


Not My Namesake

by DarkAcey



Series: Apophasis [1]
Category: Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity (Video Game), The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
Genre: Abusive Parents, Action/Adventure, Angst and Feels, Awkward Crush, Bad Parenting, Canon Compliant, Character Death, Character Development, Childhood Friends, Complicated Relationships, Developing Relationship, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Enemies to Friends, Forgiveness, Gen, Good Ganondorf (Legend of Zelda), Hopeful Ending, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Link (Legend of Zelda) Needs a Hug, Link (Legend of Zelda) Uses Sign Language, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), M/M, Misgendering, Next Generation, No Smut, Original Character(s), POV Ganondorf (Legend of Zelda), POV Multiple, POV Zelda (Legend of Zelda), Physical Abuse, Plot, Post-Age of Calamity, Post-Breath of the Wild, Post-Calamity Ganon, Post-Canon, Redemption, Role Reversal, Romantic Fluff, Selectively Mute Link (Legend of Zelda), Trans Male Character, Trans Male Zelda, Trans Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-21
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:34:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 76
Words: 143,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22827259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkAcey/pseuds/DarkAcey
Summary: Zelda rushed to his rapier by his nightstand. Throwing off its sheath, he pointed the blade at Ghirahim. “Call me princess one more time and I’ll stab you.”“Brave words for a foolish girl.”“I’m not a girl!”“Are you now?” Ghirahim asked. “You expect me to believe Hyrule’s princess is aboy?”“Yes,” Zelda retorted. He took a step forward, jabbing his rapier at Ghirahim. “Tell me what you’re doing here.”Ghirahim looked impishly amused by Zelda’s attempt at intimidation. “Wouldn’t you like to know, hm?”Three generations after the defeat of Calamity Ganon, Hyrule has prospered and returned to its former glory. A new princess has been born, a farm hand has been trained as a knight, and evil brews once again in the desert. It’s a story the kingdom knows well, but the problem is not another repetition of the Triforce cycle.Zelda isnota princess, and he doesn’t want to kill anyone.In other words, this is a story about a new generation of heroes dealing with unwanted expectations. They’re learning how to stand up against their parents’ wrongs, forgive the past, and forge new names for themselves.
Relationships: Ganondorf & Ghirahim (Legend of Zelda), Ganondorf & Kotake & Koume (Legend of Zelda), Ganondorf & Vaati (Legend of Zelda), Ganondorf & Zelda (Legend of Zelda), Ganondorf/Zelda (Legend of Zelda), Ghirahim & Vaati (Legend of Zelda), Ghirahim & Zelda (Legend of Zelda), King of Hyrule & Zelda (Legend of Zelda), Link & Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Series: Apophasis [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1927129
Comments: 707
Kudos: 501





	1. “Not a princess!”

**Author's Note:**

> **Trigger/content warnings:** mind the tags. This is first and foremost a story about healing/standing up for yourself, but I don't shy away from the work that goes along with that journey. I've personally had to live through a lot of this stuff and consulted friends who've dealt with the parts I haven't. If you have particular concerns, don't hesitate to [DM me on Twitter](https://twitter.com/DarkAcey) or leave a comment here.
> 
> Parts of the dialogue in this fic uses Va Ehenív: The Language of The Gerudo, a conlang created by Nina-Kristine Johnson. You can learn it here: <http://va-eheniv.conlang.org/gerudolang1.html>
> 
> **UPDATE regarding Age of Calamity** — This fic was written entirely before I knew AoC was a thing, but I’ve retroactively added the tags for post game because both Botw’s ending and AoC’s ending are compatible with this story. (The sequel I'm writing will almost certainly include characters from AoC too.)
> 
> I really love comments/chatting with readers, so please leave feedback/questions/theories/etc! If you'd rather reach out to me on Twitter, my DMs are always open. You can find me there under this same username, [DarkAcey](https://twitter.com/DarkAcey). 
> 
> **Sequel in Progress:** I am currently writing a sequel for this story, so please let me know what your favorite parts are and/or what you'd like to see in book 2. It'll really help my morale to continue hearing from you while I'm on hiatus to work on it, and I want to make sure I include everything y'all want. (And if I can't include it, it may end up being written anyway as a bonus fic.)

“Princess Zelda!” King Cornelius called, marching down the carpeted hallway from Zelda’s room to the Sanctum. “Return to your chambers this instant!”

“Not a princess,” Zelda muttered while he rounded a corner. He tucked himself behind the stairs leading up to the thrones. Pressing his back and palms against the cool stone wall, he heaved a sigh and tipped back his head. His brunet ponytail bumped against the wall. The rest of his long hair was getting tangled behind his heather grey shirt.

Zelda knew hiding was pointless. The guards in royal uniforms at each of the doorways had seen him. Unless he deigned to go up the stairs and throw himself out the window that backlit the golden Triforce statue mounted over the thrones, there were no better alternative routes in the sacred space. Either his father would eventually catch up to him, or he would get the guards to stop him. If Zelda had thought through his escape from his room, he would have instead taken the shortcut down to the courtyard. That way, he would have at least had a chance of running into Link, and the knight could have distracted his father long enough for him to find a better hiding place.

“Zelda, stop embarrassing me! You’ve put off your dress fitting long enough and I will not stand another refusal.” King Cornelius came around the corner. Glaring at Zelda, he swept back his fur-hemmed robe and put his fists on his hips. His trimmed, grey goatee accentuated his frown. “You’re doing nothing but soiling our name and wasting our tailor’s valuable time.”

Zelda coolly met his father’s glare and crossed his arms. Shifting his weight to one foot, he rolled his eyes and said, “If _someone_ wouldn’t insist on it being a wedding _gown_ , maybe the tailor could actually get work done.”

“Don’t start this madness again,” King Cornelius snapped. His booming voice echoed in the sacred space. “You are a princess – a princess cannot wear a suit to her own wedding!” As the king spoke, Zelda pantomimed a talking head with his hand. “Enough!”

King Cornelius grabbed Zelda’s wrist and wrenched him away from the wall. Zelda stumbled with an indignant yelp. He tried to twist out of his father’s grip, but the king jerked him forward with no effort at all. Zelda’s father was a large and hale man, despite his exceeding age, and Zelda was but a gangling adolescent.

“Why should it matter?” Zelda said, struggling to stay on his feet as his father kept pulling him forward. “Link gets to wear a suit!”

“Yes, because Link is becoming a prince. A kingdom cannot be ruled by two princes.”

Zelda scoffed. Glowering at the floor, he muttered, “Better two princes than a senile king.”

Through his teeth, King Cornelius said, “I will pretend I didn’t hear that.”

All too quickly, they hiked back up the stairs to Zelda’s bedroom. The tailor was standing awkwardly by Zelda’s caretaker, Impa, who was sitting on a sofa in the sitting area in her usual Sheikah haori coat. A folding room divider was set up by the canopy bed behind them, and they had moved Zelda’s standing mirror in front of a stool the tailor had brought. A white dress was folded over the back of a side chair. The sight once again filled Zelda with dread. His father had surprised him with this dress fitting when he had come back to his room after breakfast, and it was why Zelda had fled in the first place. Now he wondered if he should have risked jumping out the window after all.

“I apologize for the delay,” King Cornelius told the tailor. “The princess is struggling with nerves. Weddings, you know.” He attempted a smile. “They are never easy.”

“I understand completely,” the tailor said. Turning to Zelda, he continued, “I assure you, your dress will be the least of your worries. When I’m finished with it, no other woman will match your beauty.”

Zelda grit his teeth, but forced his expression to remain impassive. “Thank you.” He picked up the dress and petticoats beneath it. Various veils were left on the seat of the chair. He had half a mind to ignite the bundle of silk and lace in his arms with a fire spell, but his father’s gaze weighed heavily on his back. “I’ll try this on then.”

Going behind the folding room divider, Zelda held up the dress and grimaced when he saw the bodice. It had a sweetheart neckline with useless, off-the-shoulder lace straps. As if it wasn’t bad enough he had to wear a dress, it had to accentuate his breasts too. Zelda dropped the dress onto his bed and mentally cursed. He hung his head and rubbed his eyes with his thumb and middle finger. Griping under his breath, Zelda slid out of his pants and pulled his shirt off over his head. Pulling off his binder was always more difficult, though it was mostly due to the fact that he was outgrowing his current ones and hadn’t gotten around to sewing a new set yet. Once he was unbound, Zelda stretched his chest and shoulders.

“My Lady, how is it fitting?” the tailor asked.

Zelda grimaced. He looked back down at the dress on his bed. “Just give me a minute,” he answered, picking it up as if it was coated in the Malice that had covered the land during his great-grandparents’ time. Countless pearls and sparkling crystals were sewn into its bodice, and layer upon layer of gold-embroidered silk comprised the heavy skirt. If he had had a fondness for extravagance like his father, little else could have been added to increase its opulence. As it was, however, he would have preferred the plain, ceremonial shift he had been forced to wear during his pilgrimage to the Spring of Wisdom last year.

“Do you need any help lacing the back, Your Highness?” Impa called. The middle-aged, Sheikah woman was one of the few people in the castle who respected his preference for masculine or gender-neutral terms of address.

Zelda examined the long row of laces and repressed a groan. The cursed thing was going to cinch his waist _and_ push up his boobs. As he quickly stepped into the dress and pulled it up over his chest, Zelda answered, “Yes, please. You may come back here now.”

Impa came around the divider. As she nimbly gathered the long cords, she whispered, “I apologize for the lack of warning. Your father didn’t tell me about his plans either.” She gave the laces a tug as she worked her way up. “I’ve already asked the tailor about adjusting the neckline. It won’t be difficult to add some fabric and close it into a halter top.”

“Thank the Three.” Zelda took a deep breath before Impa tightened the sides. Corsets were worse than the bandages he used to use before Impa discovered his problem and gave him the pattern for his binder. It still slightly restricted his breathing, but binders were flexible at least. He despised how corsets squeezed his waist and kept him from slouching. This dress was extra bothersome because its whaleboning was digging into his hips and beneath his arms.

“All done,” Impa said, stepping back after tying off the laces. Her crimson eyes scanned the fit of the dress, but her attention was on Zelda’s taut expression. “How is it so far?” she asked, worried more about his stress level than the dress.

Zelda exhaled heavily. “It’s about what I expected,” he answered, tugging up on the bodice. Its top covered even less than he hoped, and due to his narrow hips, the one part of his body he didn’t normally dislike, he feared it would slide down completely. “Let’s hurry this up so I can change back already.”

“Certainly.” Impa gathered up Zelda’s voluminous skirts and followed him back to the mirror.

“Oh, it’s stunning!” King Cornelius exclaimed. He smiled widely at the sight, and it was the first time in a while that Zelda had seen his father so happy. “Spin in a circle and move your arms, Zelda. You’re covering up the front.”

“It hasn’t even been pinned up,” Zelda answered. He had his arms crossed over his chest, holding his fists over his modest cleavage. “It doesn’t fit right.”

“It doesn’t look that big. Please, let us see all of it.”

“Fine.” Zelda reluctantly lowered one arm and turned in a slow circle, struggling not to trip over his petticoats. He felt his face redden and his arms grow cold as his father and the tailor appraised him. His arms were bare except for the off-the-shoulder lace straps. He wished it had proper sleeves. All of his pale limbs were too slender and girlish, despite his efforts to build muscle.

“Step onto the stool here if you would, please, My Lady.” The tailor gestured to it as he got out a pin cushion. “It looks like we’ll need to let in the bodice. Does it feel too loose or too tight anywhere else?”

Focusing on keeping his tone even, Zelda answered the tailor’s questions. He tried not to think about how the tailor’s hands rested on his body each time he put a pin into place or how close the tailor’s face came to his chest. When Impa mentioned changing the neckline for Zelda, the king frowned, but could make no argument against it. Zelda then suggested thinning out the petticoats beneath the wide skirt too, which was also thankfully accepted. If he couldn’t get out of wearing a dress, he could at least wear something that didn’t feel like he had fallen into a Hylian shroom.

“Now,” King Cornelius said, “let’s let down your hair so we can see you in the veil.”

Zelda refrained from scowling. “Do I have to untie it?”

“Well—” the tailor started.

“Of course you do,” the king answered. “Your hair is the picture of elegance.”

Only because he was never allowed to cut it, Zelda mentally complained. Nevertheless, he took out his ponytail and let his brunet locks cascade down his back. Its length reached just past his hips. He had been punished severely after he had cut it short by himself once, and so it had never been cut again except for the occasional trim against split ends. Impa went behind Zelda to help him smooth out the unruly tangles that inevitably appeared. Her gentle fingers swept through his hair soothingly.

King Cornelius passed the tailor Zelda’s tiara, and he attached a veil. It was a laurel of gold with rubies in its center, the same one worn by his great-grandmother. Gesturing for Zelda to incline his head, the tailor slid it into place and draped the veil behind his head.

“It’s perfect!” The king clapped his hands together. “Link will be struck speechless.”

Zelda snorted. “It would be more impressive if this actually got him to say something.” He tucked a stray hair behind his ear.

The king narrowed his eyes at Zelda, peeved. “You know what I mean.”

“I do.” Zelda looked over himself once more. The willowy figure in the mirror looked more like his mother than himself, he realized with a pang in his heart. He averted his eyes. “Are we done now?”

“I believe so,” the tailor answered. As Zelda took off his tiara and passed it to Impa, the tailor said, “The final fitting will be ready in two weeks.”

“Great…” Zelda ducked behind the folding divider and immediately began planning how he might escape the castle on that day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Updated 3-12-2020] I had a FtM friend do a sensitivity reading of this first chapter, so I've corrected some details about Zelda's binder and his thoughts about corsets. (I've never worn a corset or a binder, so the first version had some pretty dumb mistakes.)
> 
> If you're trans, don't hesitate to point out anything that seems inconsistent or off-putting. I write about a lot of trans boys, and I want to make sure I do it in a respectful way for this fic.


	2. “You can dream.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got impatient, so here's an early update!
> 
> If you want more updates sooner, be sure to drop a kudo! Along with my regular updates, I'm going to upload another chapter every time I get 25 kudos.

“Hiyah!” Link shouted, stepping forward with a slash of his sword. Zelda parried with his rapier. Sunlight glinted off their weapons while they sparred. Twisting on his foot, Zelda jabbed at Link’s waist. The knight deflected his blow and swung his shield arm. Zelda narrowly stumbled around the wide swing and backpedaled away from another slash of Link’s sword.

“Shit!” Zelda swore through his teeth, raising his rapier just in time to block the rest of Link’s push forward. The knight was cornering him at the edge of their sparring circle in the courtyard between Zelda’s rooms and the guards’ chambers. Occasionally other knights would watch their practice from either the wall above them or the nearby gazebo, but today they had the summer morning to themselves.

Link grinned when he saw he had the advantage. Zelda shot him a peeved look in return. Their blades rattled as they continued pressing against each other. Before Zelda could think of a witty retort to go with his glare, Link shouted again, shield-bashing Zelda.

Tumbling backwards from the force of the blow, Zelda barely managed to tuck his head and turn away his rapier. He wouldn’t have cut himself even if he had landed on it because he enchanted the blade with a no-cutting spell, but it would have left a nasty bruise. Zelda sat back upright with a groan. “Bested again.” He lifted up his head just as Link offered him a hand.

Zelda grudgingly accepted the help up. “Just once,” he muttered, sheathing his rapier with an audible click, “I’d like to beat you in a fair fight.”

Link’s laugh was a silent, breathy sound. _“You can dream_ , _”_ he signed. His expression and the way he flicked his fist implied a teasing tone.

“Yes, but dreaming always requires waking up.” Zelda swept his ponytail in front of his chest. He picked his fingers through his brunet locks absentmindedly, detangling it. He knew he should have put it into a braid first, but the time it took to do so always felt like a chore. At least this way, only tying up, he had something to fidget with as he brooded over all the other things he dreamed of.

A gentle touch beneath his chin surprised Zelda as Link lifted his face to meet his sky-blue eyes. With a questioning look, he waved his fingers between them. _“Talk with me?”_

Zelda sighed. “It’s nothing new.” He swept his hair back behind his back and walked over to the wall of the turret overlooking their sparring circle. He slumped against the stonework and slid down into the grass, looking out across the castle moat towards Elma Knolls. A breeze brushed over the expanse of green hills and wildflowers. Farther in the distance, clouds were gathering over Hebra Peak and the rest of the mountains. He propped up his knee and folded his hands on top. “I was just thinking about that stupid dress my dad commissioned and the rest of his bullshit.”

Link hummed in acknowledgement, sympathetic. Zelda had fumed about it to Link long enough afterwards to usher in a new epoch of Sages. He sat down slightly across from Zelda. Though Link had wider shoulders and thicker arms, he was still half a head shorter than the gangly royal heir. His gaze followed Zelda’s, and the knight looked thoughtful while he admired the scenery. Link wasn’t opposed to sitting through another epoch, per se, but knew it wouldn’t help Zelda to continue brooding over it. Facing Zelda once more, he signed, _“You know I don’t care what you wear.”_

“Yeah, but I do.”

_“Then wear pants anyway. No wedding I say unless you can.”_

Zelda gave his fiancé a bitter smile. “Just imagine the look on his face if you actually said that to him. He might just change his mind and give me to a noble after all.”

With a laugh, Link signed, _“Who would take you?”_

“Only the exceptionally stupid, probably.”

The answer made Link laugh again, though Zelda did seriously wonder if there were any men who could love a husband instead of a wife. Despite that Link was incredibly dear to him, their affection for each other was more platonic than romantic. They had only agreed to the marriage because Link was aromantic and asexual, and neither of them saw another way to protect Zelda from the king’s other considerations. Near the top of his list was the Queen of Holodrum’s nephew, a man twice Zelda’s age, and King Sidon of the Zora, who was almost three centuries old and supposedly almost as big as the hinox that used to sleep around the countryside. Link was only deemed worthy because Farore blessed him with the Triforce of Courage.

As soon as the Triforce manifested on the hand of the former farmer’s boy, the same day Zelda’s appeared on his hand, the king had him plucked from the fields and placed in the knights’ barracks. He was raised to be Zelda’s personal guard and constant companion. Though Zelda had been incredibly thankful to have him by his side growing up, his gratitude was tinged with guilt. The sudden separation from his family at such a tender age caused Link’s selective mutism. It was what Zelda believed, anyway; Link insisted that he had been quiet even before he was taken. Either way, it did not change the fact that the king denied him a normal childhood.

Link waved to get Zelda’s attention and asked with a jesting smile, _“Am I stupid to love you?”_

Zelda smirked. “Definitely,” he answered, glad to be pulled back out of his thoughts. “Only a complete idiot would indulge my ‘childish games.’” He was echoing what his father and most of the castle thought of his identity as a man. Except for Impa and Link, everyone believed he acted out because of his mother’s premature death. It didn’t matter that she had passed away over eight years ago.

_“You don’t stop mine.”_

Zelda couldn’t help but chuckle. “That’s true. But yours tend to be more easily resolved with some healing magic when they go wrong.”

Link merely shrugged. He personally thought Zelda’s ideas tended to get them hurt more often than his, considering the royal heir liked sledding down stairs while he just liked experimenting with pilfered potion ingredients. Getting up, he gestured for Zelda to follow him.

“Are we going to do something incredibly stupid together now?” Zelda asked, half-smiling as he raised an eyebrow.

Link grinned and waved again for Zelda to get up.

“All right then.” Zelda pushed himself up. “Whisk me off my feet.” He followed Link towards the guards’ chambers.

* * *

In an excited whisper, Zelda said, “This is a terrible idea.” He moved his arm as Link helped him fasten the belt on his armor breastplate. “I’ll be recognized for sure!”

Link breathed a laugh, shaking his head. He moved to Zelda’s other side to check the fit of the belt there before he picked up one of the pauldrons from his armory locker. He pointed to the gauntlets and gestured for Zelda to put them on. Zelda obliged while Link fitted the rest of his soldier armor pieces. When he was finished, he pointed at Zelda’s high ponytail and mimed untying it, as his own blond hair was sheared short like the other knights.

Frowning, Zelda asked, “Do I need to?”

Link pointed to the helmet. _“Won’t fit right.”_

Zelda sighed. “Fine.” He pulled out his ponytail and picked up Link’s helmet to try it on, but it sat loosely on his head.

 _“Needs padding.”_ Link twirled his finger for Zelda to turn around and sit. _“I’ll braid your hair.”_

Zelda chuckled. His armor clinked together as he fell onto a bench. “Okay then. Prepare to be here until next week.”

Link tapped the top of his head with a knife hand strike. His meaning was clear even without using signs. _“Don’t be stupid.”_ He held Zelda’s hair tie between his lips. His fingers deftly parted Zelda’s hair and smoothed out the long strands. After years of long afternoons with little else to do, Link had become an expert at twisting, braiding, curling, and knotting Zelda’s hair into any shape they could imagine. Even without a comb, it didn’t take him long to fix Zelda’s hair into a twisted crown braid.

After Link put the helmet on Zelda and banged the top gently to make sure it was secure, he walked around to face Zelda. _“Not too heavy?”_ he asked, pointing to all of the armor.

“Uh, let’s see.” Zelda stood. He lifted and set down each of his feet. Holding out his arms to examine his hands, he turned them over and then tested the elbow joints. Twisting around to look at his back, he said, “It’s all a lot heavier than I expected, but not unbearable.” It almost felt like wearing a dense, thick blanket. He held his hands away from his sides and looked down at his chest and feet. “I can’t believe you can wield a sword and shield in this get up.”

When Zelda looked back up at Link, he signed with a grin, _“I sweat a lot in it.”_

“Ew.”

Link laughed at Zelda’s expression. _“I clean it.”_

Zelda raised an eyebrow as he lifted his arm to sniff his armpit. “Ack!” His nose wrinkled as he turned away his face. “Not enough, clearly.”

Laughing more, Link patted Zelda on the back and gestured for him to follow him out of the armory.

“Are you sure you don’t need to be suited up too?” Zelda glanced down at his customary green tunic over a chainmail shirt. Dozens of little bags were attached to his belt. His knight sword and shield hung from his back. “Won’t you look weird going into town unarmored when I am?”

Link shook his head. _“Sometimes I visit family or town with knights. Not weird.”_

“Right.” Zelda frowned, annoyed with himself for forgetting. Link didn’t talk very much about his visits into town, and spoke even less about his family. Zelda could never tell if it was due to reluctance or him generally being a man of few words. It was only after Link promised to marry Zelda that the king allowed him more freedom. Before he did, Link’s main contact with his family came through letters. His father could only very rarely spare time to visit the castle, and Impa had few opportunities to sneak Link home under the pretense of survival training. The king only got away with the forced separation because he paid Link’s family for his service to Zelda, money they desperately needed to raise his little sister and keep their farm afloat.

Link pat Zelda’s shoulder and signed, _“It’s okay. We do fun things now.”_


	3. “What do you want?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We reached 25 kudos!!! ~~This is an extra special update too because it's twice as long as normal. The second half of this update, labeled Chapter 3.5, is actually material that I ended up deciding didn't fit into the rest of my story. I was going to leave it out entirely, but I know may of my readers enjoy my fluff.~~  
>  ~~So, if fluff's not your thing, go ahead and skip Chapter 3.5. If you're a fan, enjoy!~~
> 
> 6/27/2020 update: I've moved Chapter 3.5 into a separate work to be part of a series of deleted scenes.

Leaving the castle was easier than Zelda expected. They were recognized by one guard, Roam, but he made an obvious show of turning away to look at a ‘suspicious clump of leaves’ in the moat. The older knight was one of Link’s mentors and the most relaxed when it came to rules. When they were children, he often used to give them sweets when he wasn’t supposed to, and to this day, he would still frequently skip his shifts guarding the castle to give them swordplay tips during their sparring sessions.

Knowing that Roam had their back helped ease Zelda’s fear of being caught. It wasn’t the first time he had snuck out, but his previous attempts had all ended poorly. The first involved rappelling through his window and breaking his wrist. The second time he managed to cling to the underside of a carriage long enough to make it to the end of the moat bridge, but he was almost trampled by the cart and horses following behind it. He made several other similar attempts, going so far as to build a raft with Link’s help, but the farthest he had gone was when he stowed away on a barge bound for the Zora’s Domain. He never got to step foot in the domain, to his chagrin, because he had underestimated the length of the trip and ran out of his packed provisions. He had been caught trying to steal food, so the moment the barge docked, they shipped him back on another boat.

Zelda’s last attempt at leaving the castle was when he and Link were fifteen, three years ago. He had been the most desperate then to escape his father’s rules then, so he taught himself disguise magic, studied trade routes, had his old maid pilfer supplies, and bribed a barge captain to take him and Link to Riverside Stable. They actually managed to get horses and ride to Gatepost Town before Impa tracked them down. Afterwards, his maid had been sacked, their horses were returned, and he had been confined to his room for nearly two months, unable to see Link or train with his rapier. The only things he could do to pass the time were practice sewing or playing his lyre.

The threat of being locked up in his room again hung in the back of Zelda’s mind while they walked across the moat bridge, but he couldn’t deny how refreshing it was to get a change of scenery. The busy market stood directly in front of them. Sheikah from Kakariko had stands full of pumpkins, carrots, and goat butter. The farmers from Hateno had fresh milk, apples, and rice. Lurelin fishermen showcased colorful crabs, porgies, and sea snails. Countless Hylians hurried to and from the vendors, carrying shopping bags full of groceries.

As Link and Zelda came further into the market and walked around the large fountain in its center, Zelda was delighted to see Gorons selling roasted meat skewers and seared steaks seasoned with their signature spice. Another Goron stall had a variety of uncut gemstones from their mines. Nearby, Rito showcased goods from the mountains and Tabantha Frontier, including fresh hearty salmon, chillshrooms, wildberries, and bundles of wheat. Zelda rarely had the opportunity to see other Hyrulean races, so he relished being able to see them in person. The Goron’s stony skin and the Rito’s avian characteristics were endlessly fascinating. Though it was mildly disappointing to not see any Zora while they explored, Zelda expected that to be the case. The aquatic race rarely ventured outside of their domain.

Eventually, they came across a Gerudo smoothie stand. The tall, bronze-skinned woman towered over almost all of the Hylians in the market. Zelda’s pointed ears perked up under his helmet, immediately interested, though he was hesitant to approach it given his disguise as a knight. Link noticed Zelda’s dilemma and smirked. He pulled Zelda over to the stall and asked him, _“What do you want?”_

“Uh…” Zelda cleared his throat, and tried again, making his voice sound deeper. “I suppose I’ll try, um…” He browsed the options, indecisive. The front of the Gerudo’s stall had a long, chalkboard list of fruit and other ingredients that could be blended into ice straight from the Highlands.

Link rolled his eyes, amused. He faced the Gerudo behind the stall and asked, _“Do you sign?”_ When she looked confused at the short Hylian, Link faced Zelda again. _“You have to order.”_ He then pointed to the voltfruit. _“Get that.”_ He gestured to the banana and wildberry for himself.

“Okay.” Though it bothered Zelda to have to speak for Link, he ordered their drinks and paid with a handful of green rupees. They stood off to the side while the Gerudo began cranking a blender. Zelda watched the people passing by. A pair of Hylian children ran past, playing with a rolling hoop. He watched them disappear back into the crowd and surveyed the other vendor stalls. No one was speaking with signs, as far as he could tell. “Is it common for people in town to not know how to sign?”

 _“Yeah.”_ Link shrugged. _“No big deal.”_

“But isn’t it a hassle not being able to talk to anyone?” Zelda had trouble wrapping his mind around the idea, though it was mostly due to how casually Link revealed what should have been a major problem. Zelda didn’t know how it hadn’t come up sooner. Since everyone in the castle knew sign language, he supposed he was privileged with the ignorant assumption that life outside the walls was the same as inside.

 _“Knights talk for me. Or I write.”_ Link reached into one of his belt pockets and took out a tattered little notebook. The stub of a pencil was tucked between its pages.

Zelda stared, appalled. Then he lowered his head and held his temples. “Oh, Link…”

Link pat Zelda’s arm and gave him a reassuring look. _“Usually pointing’s fine too. I don’t mind.”_

“But—”

The Gerudo called their drinks ready, so Link fetched them with a smile and nod of thanks. Link’s was served in a palm fruit shell, and Zelda’s was in the husk of a voltfruit. He held out Zelda’s voltfruit smoothie with a rueful expression.

Zelda grudgingly accepted his drink. The colorful, bustling market no longer seemed quite as entertaining. It felt more like the pictures in his books, when it had lain in ruins for more than a century after Calamity Ganon destroyed it. Hyrule had come a long way since his great-grandparents defeated the beast, but clearly not as far as Zelda had thought.

Link led them back to the fountain and they found a place to sit along its edge, facing the southern gate towards Hyrule Field. Zelda stared into his voltfruit husk, wishing it had come with a spoon. It was shaped awkwardly enough that trying to drink from it normally would be annoying with his helmet. Surprising Zelda then, though he realized later that he really shouldn’t have been, Link pulled out travel silverware from another pouch on his belt. He stuck his fork into his drink and held out his spoon for Zelda.

Despite himself, Zelda laughed. “Thank you.” He tried a spoonful and immediately grinned. “Mmm!” The sweet voltfruit tingled like static on his tongue, and the ice blended into it was refreshingly cool. After walking around for so long in such heavy armor, he needed the break more than he realized. “Good pick, Link.”

He smiled proudly after slurping from his shell. Pointing at Zelda’s drink with his fork, his expression asked, _“May I?”_

“Only if I can try some of yours.” Zelda held out his drink for them to trade. The wildberry and banana wasn’t quite as good in Zelda’s opinion since it wasn’t tart enough, but Link seemed just as happy. After they traded back, they continued to enjoy their treats in comfortable silence. The fountain babbled behind them, and Zelda listened to the gentle roar of people walking, talking, and haggling prices.

When Zelda finished, as Link had finished his much more quickly, Zelda leaned back on his hands and looked up at the sky. The sun was just past its zenith. It struck Zelda as odd despite knowing that they had left the castle around noon. They still had plenty of time to kill if they wanted to stay until dinnertime. Zelda couldn’t help but daydream about what he would do if they didn’t return. He had no supplies, and they spent most of the spare rupees Link had on their drinks, so there was little they could realistically do. But it was still a bittersweet notion to imagine going on an adventure like all the Heroes of history.

As far as everyone was aware, Ganon’s reincarnations ended after he was defeated by Zelda’s great-grandparents. There weren’t going to be more fate-of-the-world battles or epic quests. His and Link’s Triforce symbols were little more than decoration on their hands, as neither of them had been able to utilize the divine powers that were supposed to come with them. Zelda was able to use magic, but so were most of the Sheikah, many Hylians, and occasionally some Gerudo. Magical ability rarely manifested in the other Hyrulean races. He didn’t have prophetic dreams like his namesakes. Visiting the Spring of Wisdom did nothing to change that. Link was the most skilled swordsman he knew, but he was also forced to hold one for most of his life. That kind of intensive training would make anyone an expert. And since all of the ancient shrines dotting the land had closed up over two decades ago and the Hero’s artifacts were all packed away, Link hadn’t had the opportunity to really test his courage.

Link tapped Zelda’s arm. _“Want to continue exploring?”_

Zelda inclined his head, apologetic for getting lost in his thoughts. “Sure. Is there anywhere in particular you’d recommend?”

Link nodded and hopped onto his feet.

**Chapter 3.5**

~~**(These scenes were cut because they have no plot relevance and hurt the pacing of this story, but I’m including them here for those who enjoy fluff and shameless references to multiple Zelda games. It may be moved into a separate work later.)** ~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Go here to read the bonus chapter: [Kinstones in Castle Town (chapter 3.5)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24957313)


	4. “What did I miss?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short update, but you can consider it the drum roll for the chaos that will ensue next chapter. >:)

Zelda and Link spent the rest of the afternoon in Castle Town visiting Link’s favorite places, which included a lovely bakery, numerous game shops, and a figurine gallery. They made it back across the moat just before sunset, so they hurried to the guards’ chambers to remove Link’s armor from Zelda’s person. As soon as he was changed, he rushed through the castle to the staircase to his room. When he opened his door, Zelda was startled to find Impa on the sofa in his sitting area.

Impa had folded a book over her thumb. As she sat up to face the royal heir, she asked, “Did you have fun today?”

“Uh…” Zelda avoided Impa’s knowing look and unconsciously hunched in his shoulders.

“You needn’t lie, young man.” Impa softened her expression. “I covered your unplanned absence.”

“Oh.” Zelda silently swore. “What did I miss?” He rubbed the back of his neck as he walked over to the side chair by Impa.

“Your father wanted your input on floral arrangements. I told him you wanted to do research on the subject before you made any decisions, so he will come find you again tomorrow.”

Zelda mentally swore once more, but breathed a sigh of relief. “Okay.” He slumped into the side chair and stretched out his legs in front of himself. Dropping his arms down the sides, he said, “I suppose that means you’ve already pulled books on flowers for me?”

“Yes. I’ve left them on your nightstand.” Impa rose from her seat on the sofa. Smoothing out the front of her usual Sheikah haori coat, she said, “Next time you care to go on a little adventure, please let me know. You are old enough now to make your own decisions, but there is very little I can do if those decisions evoke your father’s wrath.”

“I know.” Zelda sighed. “I’m sorry.”

“The apology is accepted. Now, wash up and get studying. Your dinner will be sent up in an hour.” As Impa walked out, she added, “Let your loss of sleep tonight be punishment enough for causing me grief.”

Zelda rose heavily from his seat. Quietly, he said, “I didn’t mean to worry you.”

“I know you didn’t.” Impa gave him a kind though exasperated smile. “If things were different, you wouldn’t have done anything wrong.”

The door clicked shut once Impa was gone. Bemoaning the fact that he now had homework, Zelda took his time washing up. His dinner was waiting for him by the time he came out of the bath.

The books Impa set out on Zelda’s nightstand Zelda weren’t the worst reading material he had ever had, especially considering they had beautiful illustrations, but it was difficult to stay focused. He cared very little about flower symbolism and the ways they could be arranged. The Silent Princess appealed to him, mainly because it matched the castle’s official royal blue, but learning that it was endangered and couldn’t be grown domestically ruled it out. A white, bell-shaped plant called town flower seemed suitable, and it paired well with blue nightshade. If they mixed in armoranth, cool safflina, swift violet, and some Hyrule herb, it would be a good mix of color without being ostentatious.

As Zelda continued reading and became engrossed with an unusual kind of flower called pico blooms, a muted explosion rocked the castle. The curtains around Zelda’s canopy bed trembled with the tremors.

Zelda jerked upright. “What in Hylia’s name?” He leapt out of bed and ran to his window. Throwing back the curtains, he peered through the diamond-lattice glass panes. Lamps and braziers were being lit all across the castle, illuminating its limestone walls and banners emblazoned with the Hyrulean crest. Guards flooded out of their chambers and began taking position among those on night duty, searching for whatever caused the commotion. Nothing appeared damaged from Zelda’s viewpoint. He checked his other windows, but still nothing seemed out of the ordinary except for the frenzied guards.

Curiosity getting the better of him, Zelda changed out of his nightclothes and pulled on his boots. Just as he left his room, he ran into Impa in the hallway.

“What’s going on?” Zelda asked her. “Are we being attacked or was there an accident?”

“We don’t know yet,” Impa answered, “but you need to remain in your room.”

“But—”

“Your father would have my head if I let you put yourself in danger, and I would let him have it if I was so careless. Turn back around now.”

Link came up the stairs from his bunk in the guards’ chambers as Zelda was about to continue arguing. Breathless, he signed, _“Explosion was underground. Knights fear more. Everything here okay?”_

“Yeah,” Zelda said, “but where underground?”

_“Don’t know yet. When they know, they’ll tell us.”_

The answer displeased Zelda, but he knew it couldn’t be helped. Reluctantly, he allowed Link and Impa to usher him back into his room and bar his doors. If this was an attack, there was a chance it was part of a plot to kidnap him, but Zelda could imagine plenty of other reasons. If the explosion was at the docks, it would severely inconvenience the castle’s daily food deliveries, not to mention the scores of guests who would arrive in boats for the upcoming wedding. If everyone had to travel through town and use the moat bridge instead, the headaches it would cause would be enormous.

The dungeon was also underground, but there were no prisoners there to Zelda’s knowledge. Unless his father was keeping people there secretly, which Zelda wouldn’t put past him, no one should have been trying to escape. If someone was trying to get in or out of the castle, the east and west passageways were the most vulnerable positions, as they were meant to be emergency exits to the moat. They were prime targets for explosives if the doors couldn’t be picked or bribed open.

The last possibility Zelda considered was the most concerning. The castle had two trophy rooms, one open to the public, and one hidden underground. The room anyone could visit on tours had benign artifacts, gifts from foreign dignitaries, and commissioned art. The hidden room served as storage for powerful, potentially dangerous tools collected by his great-grandparents. Included in the collection was the Sheikah slate, an ancient, incredibly advanced piece of technology that could summon bombs and ice, control metal, pause time, and even instantly transport the user to any shrine in Hyrule. His great-grandparents used it to travel all across the world and find the items that had been used by countless Heroes of old. If someone managed to break into this room and take anything, Zelda didn’t even want to imagine the havoc that would ensue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now that we're decently into the story and arriving at the inciting incident, I'm curious - is this fic what you expected so far? If not, what's making you stick around?
> 
> I ask because I agonized a stupidly long time over my tags and summary blurb, and I'm still not sure if I like it. I'm just trying to make sure I'm highlighting the right things to find the right readers for this work.


	5. “Do you see all this fire?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to post this before I went to sleep last night, but here is the weekly update!

Ganondorf wished he had taken a closer look at the bag he had tossed aside while digging through one of the many crates in the castle’s secret storeroom. If he had paid attention to the fact it was embroidered with an image of a bomb, he might have realized why it was here. Because it felt empty and harmless, however, he paid it no mind in search of his true prize. He only got so far as to pull out a blue, ice-tipped rod before he heard the hiss of a fuse lighting itself, and by then it was too late. He turned around and saw the bomb blinking red. His hands flew up to protect himself the second before it exploded.

The single bomb caused a chain reaction. Another source of bombs went off in a nearby crate, which then launched a fire rod into a deku leaf. It burst into flames, and a tornado rod activated, spreading the blaze to the rest of the room. A hookshot sprung somewhere, impaling a feathered cape to the ceiling. Several mechanical beetles turned on and flew madly from their boxes. They bumped into other crates, knocking over countless bottles, bows, boomerangs, and arrows. Many of their shafts were also tipped with bombs, which caused another set of detonations.

Ganondorf groaned beneath an overturned crate of shields. “Ow, fuck…” The hair on his uncovered arm was singed off, as his other arm was in a voe spaulder sleeve. His ears were ringing. As smoke built up from the fires engulfing the crates, Ganondorf coughed and struggled to unbury himself. The shields clattered onto the floor. Finding he somehow managed to hold onto the ice rod, he shakily stood up and waved it at the fire in front of him. It spewed a freezing cloud of air, immediately extinguishing the flames.

“I need to get out of here,” Ganondorf muttered, looking for the exit. As much as he wanted to stay and find what he had come for, he knew guards would arrive any at second. If they saw his Triforce mark, he also knew they would probably try to kill him on sight. It was why he covered his hands, despite it being mostly a futile gesture. Anyone who realized he was a male Gerudo would assume he was the reborn Demon King.

He shouldn’t have come to the castle at all, but his mothers gave him no choice. He couldn’t overpower their dark magic. Despite how much they goaded him, Ganondorf didn’t exhibit the power his Triforce promised. He didn’t have their ambition for conquest either, but they and the rest of the Yiga Clan couldn’t merely kill him or let him go in hopes that another Gerudo king would be born. They had already waited three generations after Calamity Ganon was defeated. All they could do was test his limits and coerce him into doing their bidding.

As Ganondorf put out the flames barring his way to the exit, a voice in his head hissed, _“What are you_ doing _? We can’t leave yet! You need to find the slate!”_

“I can’t keep looking!” Ganondorf retorted. “Do you see all this fire?”

_“You found an ice rod. Use it.”_

“There’s no point. Even if the slate was here, it’s probably already up in smoke.”

_“Absurd! Such technology cannot be destroyed by mere fire.”_

“Then we can come back for it later.” Ganondorf kicked aside the charred and frozen remains of a crate and ducked his head under the doorway to the treasure room. The ceiling was mere inches from the top of his head. “If I’m caught, you’ll be taken and I’ll be killed.”

_“Pah! Let these pathetic worms try! Draw me and we’ll cut down everyone who stands before us.”_

“Ghirahim, shut up.” Ganondorf shoved the ice rod into his belt besides the demon sword and hurried down the hallway. Ghirahim’s suggestion to kill the guards on their way into the treasure room was why Ganondorf had put the demon into his sheath in the first place. “We’re not killing anyone.”

 _“Why?”_ Ghirahim shouted, making Ganondorf grimace at its volume. _“Why must you insist on such pointless mercy?”_

“Because I’m still not your fucking master.” Ganondorf mounted the steps that led up to the east passage, but halted when a group of knights barred his way. “Shit.”

The knights standing at the top also froze. One looked like he just wet himself in terror. Ganondorf’s hood had fallen down, revealing his mane of wild, red hair. His amber eyes almost seemed to glow in their torchlight, startlingly bright against his dark skin. After overcoming their shock, the other knights drew their swords.

The bravest stepped forward and said, “Surrender yourself now or prepare to die, fiend.”

Ganondorf sighed in exasperation, hanging his head.

 _“We can take them! Look at the fools, quivering like worms. You wouldn’t even need to kill such weaklings._ I _could dispose of them for you, even!”_

Clenching his jaw, Ganondorf held Ghirahim’s sheath and put his thumb over his hilt. Under his breath, he growled, “You’re not coming out.” He faced the knights again. Before they could assume he was drawing his sword, Ganondorf called, “Can I have your word that I will be given a fair trial if I give you my arms?”

The bravest knight faltered, baffled by the question. “I… I believe so? It will be the king’s decision what we do with you.”

_“You can’t seriously be giving yourself up!”_

“Then let it be known to the king that I mean no ill will.” Ganondorf unbelted Ghirahim and held him out. “My blade is possessed by a demon. If you remove it from its sheath, the demon will attack you and seek me out.”

The knight looked again taken aback and glanced at his comrades. None of them seemed certain how to proceed.

“Will you take it or not?” Ganondorf snapped.

“Uh, we will,” the knight answered. He hesitantly came down the stairs. Despite remaining two steps above him, the knight still stood beneath Ganondorf’s chin. He took the proffered blade and held down the hilt to the sheath as Ganondorf had done. He flinched, undoubtedly hearing Ghirahim threaten him in his head, but did not lose his grip. Glancing at the ice rod, he said, “We will take that too.”

“Of course.” Ganondorf pulled it out, then also took off the twin scimitar blades on his back. Another knight came forward to take them. Since the knights’ manacles were too small for the Gerudo’s wrists, one of them removed their belt to bind Ganondorf’s hands together.

“Follow us,” the first knight said, going back up the stairs. The others trailed behind Ganondorf.

The Gerudo remained silent as they walked, glad for the peace in his mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love my big doofus and little shit so much. I also probably had too much fun writing all hell breaking loose in the treasure room (I may or may not have been trawling wikia pages in an attempt to work in every LoZ item I could find).


	6. “We need to go to the library.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, because COVID-19 made my university officially switch to all online classes *and* made the library where I work decide to be closed until March 30, I figure I can do my part to help people quarantine themselves by increasing my updates to twice weekly for the time being.
> 
> I know I won't have a hard time finding things to do while we #CancelEverything (and I'm not worried about my finances either), but I know that isn't the case for all of my readers. Little chapters of a fanfic might not be much, but if I can help people smile even for just a few minutes during this bleak time, I'll have done my part.

“They _what?_ ” Zelda said, dumbfounded at the news that the knights had apprehended none other than Ganondorf, the King of Thieves. The irony wasn’t lost on him, and the fact that no one had died in the encounter was even harder to believe. However, the loss of so many precious historical artifacts was hard to stomach.

 _“I know!”_ Link signed, gesturing wildly with Zelda’s same disbelief. The knight had returned to the royal heir’s room after breakfast to share what he learned, and the two of them were currently seated in Zelda’s sitting area. _“In dungeon now. King keep secret.”_

“Do they really think they’ll be able to keep him in there?” Zelda asked, sitting forward on the edge of the sofa. If all the stories about the past iterations of Ganondorf were true for this new one, a mundane prison cell would be no match for the Triforce of Power. Even if Impa used some kind of Sheikah spells to reinforce it, it might not be enough.

_“No idea. Knights say he’s not resisting.”_

“Why?” Zelda held his temples as he struggled to puzzle through it. “Is this part of a bigger plan?”

Link held up his hands, equally at a loss. _“He came with demon sword and said it would kill people if we unsheathe it.”_

“A demon sword?” Zelda’s eyebrows pursed together, remembering something from one of his books. “We need to go to the library.” He jumped up and gestured for Link to follow. “Come on.”

The trek down from his room and through the Sanctum took some time, aggravating Zelda more than usual. All of the hallways also had more knights stationed than yesterday. The ones in the lower levels were in their usual soldier armor, while the ones at public entrances and formal areas had put on chainmail hauberks beneath their royal guard uniforms for additional protection. No one knew yet how Ganondorf managed to get in or why he attempted to destroy everything in the secret treasure room. It left everyone on edge and worried about further invasions.

The library felt like a strange oasis of peace compared to the rest of the castle. Save for the pairs of guards by each of the doors, no one was in the airy space. Sunlight poured through the tall windows over the lofted level to the study tables and display lecterns on the marble ground floor. Zelda went down the balcony stairs to the section on Hyrule history. Skimming the titles, he pulled his brunet ponytail around and nervously tugged and twisted his fingers through it.

“Finally!” Zelda picked up a thick book titled _Hyrule Historia_. It described how the Golden Goddesses created Hyrule and the Triforce, how the Demon King, Demise rose against the Goddess of Light, Hylia, and how she chose to reincarnate as a mortal in order to use the Triforce and defeat him. A key figure who almost led the world to ruin again after that battle was Ghirahim, the demon sword wielded by Demise. It was thought to have been lost to time because it never appeared in any of the stories about Demise’s mortal form, Ganondorf, but if the sword had been found and was now in the hands of their present-day Ganondorf… Zelda shuddered at the implications.

 _“What does it say?”_ Link asked, bending around Zelda to look into the book. It was one he had not gotten around to reading yet, busy as he was with his strict training regimen. Most of his days were spent practicing swordplay, archery, and other skills befitting the Hero of Time.

Zelda flipped to a page with a drawing of Ghirahim’s likeness. It showed both a black sword and an unhealthily pale man with a jagged cape and white leotard. After Zelda summarized the story for Link, he said, “If Ghirahim is back, it means he might have somehow brought back Ganondorf, even though his reincarnations were supposed to be over.”

Link’s eyes widened. He continued staring at the picture for a moment before he stepped back. Shakily, he signed, _“What does that mean for us?”_

“I don’t know.” Zelda closed the book and put it back onto the shelf. “But Impa might. She knows all this history better than me, and she definitely would have thought of the same thing I did.” Zelda frowned at the rest of the books on the shelf. “One thing’s for certain, though. If the cycle is repeating itself, it’s going to be up to us to kill him again.”

Link looked aghast before looking down at his hands. He turned over his right hand and stared at his Triforce mark. It was but a dull yellow triangle on his tanned skin. After a moment, he signed, _“I do not want to kill.”_

“Neither do I, but I don’t want to be responsible for another Calamity. Our country just got back on its feet.”

_“We need to wait until we know more. He has not killed anyone.”_

Zelda frowned as Link reminded him of this fact. “Right.” As concerning as it was to learn Ghirahim could be involved, the reality was that this Ganondorf only destroyed some objects that arguably should have been destroyed in the first place or left in their original hiding places. And if he was anything like Zelda and Link, his Triforce might not have been able to do anything either.

Link tugged on Zelda’s shirt. _“Come to knights and ask more questions. We need to find Impa and talk to king too.”_

“All right.” Zelda smoothed out the tangles he had made in his ponytail, fretting over Ghirahim. “Hopefully they’ll have some more information for us.”


	7. “Don’t test my patience, villain.”

Ganondorf slept fitfully on the pile of straw in his cell. After the knights led him into the dungeon, the knights returned to shovel in his bedding and gave him only a single, Hylian-sized blanket to keep off the damp chill. His sand-colored cloak wasn’t much help either, since it had been singed by the fire in the treasure room and wasn’t meant for central Hyrule’s climate regardless. Ganondorf had been tormented with worse arrangements more than once, but experience did little to prevent his backache the following morning.

He was woken up by a rapping on his cell’s bars when a guard came to deliver a pitcher of water and empty his chamber pot. Sheikah agents in tight-fitting, shinobi garb came afterwards to cast some sort of enchantment over his cell door, or more likely fortify the ones they must have placed sometime last night. The guard didn’t return with breakfast, and Ganondorf didn’t ask for it. If the king deigned to give him food, it would be on his terms, not the Gerudo’s.

Ganondorf tried to continue resting after the guard left him again, but it wasn’t long before several sets of footsteps echoed down the hallway.

“Showtime,” Ganondorf muttered, sitting upright. He brushed the straw off his voe spaulder sleeve and loose pants. After he folded back his cloak hood and smoothed out his unruly hair, a pair of knights stopped in front of his cell. Standing between the knights was a Sheikah woman in their traditional village clothes and a regal, barrel-chested man almost as tall as a Gerudo woman. Ganondorf faced them with his back straight and legs crossed, lightly resting his wrists on his knees. Even on the floor, he was almost eye-level with the Sheikah woman.

“I am King Cornelius Hyrule,” the regal man stated. “Tell us your name, though we already have our suspicions.”

Ganondorf stared, unperturbed by his harsh tone. His mothers had told him the king was prejudiced. He had grown up hearing all kinds of stories about the king’s supposedly misdeeds and that of his father before him, how they abused the Goddesses’ divinity and used the Sheikah to do all of their dirty work. Ganondorf wanted to be proven otherwise, that maybe his mothers were only the ones with a problem, but it already seemed that wouldn’t be the case.

“If your guess is Ganondorf,” he said eventually, “then yeah.” He tipped his head to the side. “That’s it. I don’t really like any of the titles attached that name, though.”

The Sheikah woman narrowed her eyes, but remained silent. The king seemed momentarily confused before his glower returned. “How did you get into the castle and what were you doing in our treasure room?”

“I walked in, and evidently I blew up some shit.” Ganondorf shrugged.

“Don’t test my patience, villain.” King Cornelius stepped forward. “I know you are plotting something.”

“Me?” Ganondorf gestured to himself, pretending to be astonished by the accusation. “I’m not much of a plotter, really. I’m more of an improv kind of guy.”

Ganondorf had to resist the urge to laugh when he noticed a vein pop on the king’s forehead. The Sheikah woman laid a hand on his arm.

“Calm yourself, my liege,” she murmured before facing Ganondorf. “I am called Impa. You do realize evasive answers will get you nowhere, don’t you?”

Ganondorf looked between the king and the Sheikah, noting her authority with some surprise. The king was even less of a threat than he anticipated, which meant there was no longer any chance that he could trust him. Anyone Ganondorf could provoke this easily was not someone who could outwit his mothers.

Leaning back on his hands, Ganondorf said, “Going nowhere is better than staying here.”

Impa’s brow furrowed with disbelief. “Going nowhere means _staying_ here.”

“Oh. Err…” Ganondorf had an expression of regret before he decided to roll with it. “You know what I mean.” He waved his hand blithely. “I don’t care.”

Impa looked more baffled. “Does that mean you _want_ to be here?”

“Well, it’s all the same really.” He smiled wryly. “Just more humid here.”

The king glared at Ganondorf. “We can make your stay worse.”

“Oh really?” Ganondorf raised an eyebrow. “What’re you going to do? Take away my blanket?”

“That and much more!”

Ganondorf chuckled. “You’re really making me quake in my shoes. Will you ask your knights to chain me up to the wall next? Maybe prod me with a fire poker?”

“You’re sorely temping me!” the king retorted, gritting his teeth.

“Huh, too bad that doesn’t scare me.” Ganondorf pointed to the Sheikah woman. “Maybe ask your guard bitch for some better ideas.”

Impa’s eye twitched with irritation. The king breathed in to shout, but she put her hand in front of his chest. “Enough,” she stated, glaring at Ganondorf before facing the king. “He is trying to provoke you.”

The king balled his hands into fists. “Then he may rot here for all eternity!” He swept his robes behind himself and turned to leave. To the knights, he ordered, “Starve this man until he gives us answers.”

“Cool, I totally didn’t see that coming.” When the king abruptly turned with an indignant look at Ganondorf, he couldn’t stop himself from laughing. He put his hand over his mouth to stifle his mirth. “I’m sorry. It’s just too easy to get a rise out of you.”

King Cornelius looked livid, but Impa guided him away from the cell. “We have much to discuss,” she murmured.

Ganondorf raised an eyebrow at that, wondering if he had given away more than he intended. If he believed for even a second that Hyrule’s king could do anything to change his situation back home, he might have been more cooperative. But as things stood, he would only make his situation worse if he tried to meddle too much with his mothers’ plans. It was bad enough he had given up Ghirahim. The demon was sure to tattle on him as soon as they returned to Karusa Valley. His only plan right now was to escape, get him back, and get the Sheikah slate. He had no idea how he would do any of those tasks, especially without hurting anyone, but he still had some time. As long as he fulfilled his job eventually, his mothers wouldn’t punish him too much. At least not much more than usual. Really, the dungeon was a refreshing break in comparison.

Being starved would certainly make things more difficult, but they didn’t take away his pitcher of water. He had survived with less in the desert. Laying back down in the straw, Ganondorf folded his arms behind his head. He closed his eyes to continue resting.

* * *

When Zelda and Link came down from Zelda’s room, they stepped out of the spiral staircase just in time to catch the king and Impa coming from the dungeon. By how his father fumed, Zelda knew immediately that their interrogation didn’t go well.

Link hurried over to them and signed, _“What happened?”_

“That cretin has no respect for authority!” the king roared, voice amplified by the hallway’s high ceilings. “Dodging our questions like it’s some kind of game – I’ll show him who he’s testing!”

“Your Majesty,” Impa said, “why don’t you go to your study? I will reconvene with you there.”

“Reconvene, sure,” he muttered. “Better prepare our selection of torture implements, see how he likes being whipped.”

After the king stormed off down the hall, Impa’s gaze lingered with concern. “If you couldn’t tell,” she said, turning to Zelda, “this Ganondorf has your sense of humor when it comes to testing your father.”

Zelda blinked. “He does?” For some strange reason, that fact immediately endeared the royal heir to the Dark Beast.

 _“Did you learn anything useful?”_ Link asked, seeming similarly confused.

“I’m not sure yet.” Impa held her chin, thoughtful. “He’s not… as I expected.”

Zelda’s head tilted. “What do you mean?”

“For one, he appears much younger than any previous iteration, even though his size makes it difficult to judge. Two, he implied he is unhappy with his station, whatever it may be wherever he came from.”

Both Link and Zelda looked surprised. Turning to Zelda, Link signed, _“He’s like you.”_

“What?” Zelda made a dismissive sound, disbelieving. “You can’t be serious. Why would the Scourge of Hyrule Castle not want…?” Zelda trailed off before he could finish his sentence, reconsidering his initial assumption. Who _would_ actually want to be evil? And if Zelda could be a princess who didn’t want to be a woman, who was to say their villain couldn’t want to be something else?

“It’s too soon to say his intentions were noble,” Impa said. “I’m not ruling it out just yet. However, if he doesn’t cooperate with the king, I wouldn’t expect him to receive any leniency. The sheer scope of damage to the treasure room has yet to be determined, but we’ve certainly lost at least a few irreplaceable artifacts. He will need to be punished for that.”

“Right.” Zelda nodded. “Do you think I could talk to him?”

“I would rather you didn’t,” Impa answered. “We don’t even know yet if the cell he’s in can actually contain him if he tries to escape, and I do not want him using you as a hostage.”

Scowling, Zelda said, “I wouldn’t be caught that easily.”

Impa raised an eyebrow. “So you say, but our history has a knack for repeating itself in unusual ways. Let’s not chance it until I can find out more.”

Zelda groaned. “Why do I never get to do what I want?”

“Until you take the throne, that is just how it needs to be.”

 _“What can we do until we can talk to him?”_ Link asked.

“Do research on the Gerudo and their desert, I suppose,” Impa said. “Given his clothing and race, that’s where he must hail from. I’m going to send a message to Chief Saburi to see if she can tell us more.” The elderly Gerudo leader was the daughter of Riju, the previous chief who had taken the throne as a child during the century that Calamity Ganon had been contained in Hyrule Castle. After Zelda’s great-grandparents defeated the beast, Riju and Saburi’s leadership allowed Gerudo Town to grow into a sprawling city that rivaled even Castle Town.

“Okay,” Zelda said. “You’ll tell us as soon as you get word back from her, right?”

“Of course. Now, try not to worry yourselves too much over all this in the meantime. We still have a wedding to finish planning, after all, and I know your father will not postpone it.”

“Great…” Zelda rolled his eyes skyward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That scene with Ganondorf and the king went through so many revisions... When I first wrote it, Gan was a completely different person. I didn't really figure out who he was on the inside until about halfway through this fic. So many fics have Ganondorf as jaded, cynical, self-assured, and aloof, and while my Gan is a bit jaded, I wanted to emphasize that he is still a _teenager_. He can be a goofball when given the chance.


	8. “Do not even think about meddling with this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 50 kudos!!! As promised, here is a bonus update to celebrate the milestone.

A day passed after Link and Zelda asked Impa about Ganondorf. They spent a large portion of their time in the library, reading up on Gerudo history. The desert women were known as nothing more than marauding thieves and rapists for most of their early existence. Nowadays, their settlements were vibrant trade hubs and tourist destinations. Even Gerudo Town, home of Chief Saburi’s palace, had loosened its strict rules banning all men from its walls. The main threat left in the desert was the Yiga Clan, a clandestine organization founded by former Sheikah who were obsessed with Calamity Ganon.

The information Link and Zelda found on the Yiga Clan had been promising, if woefully incomplete. Little was known about their current goals. The books they had mostly described how their previous leader, Master Kohga, had been defeated by Zelda’s great-grandfather. The Yiga continued to harass people while their ranks were thinned out, but their last hope to overthrow the Hylian dynasty died with Calamity Ganon. Now the only people they killed were the ones who snooped too close to their hideout in Karusa Valley.

On the second day of their waiting, a Rito messenger returned with Chief Saburi’s response to Impa’s message. The elderly leader expressed her sincerest apologies that Ganondorf had made his reappearance at the castle. However, his existence was not as shocking to her as it could have been. Her daughter, Inume had been assassinated eighteen years ago during the birth of her second child, and both of her children were kidnapped. Saburi had assumed she had lost two granddaughters that day, but she had no doubt now that Inume’s second child had been a boy, the Gerudo king destined to take the throne once every hundred years.

The Gerudo believed the Yiga Clan were responsible for the crimes against their people, but their hideout was impenetrable. All attempts to rescue Saburi’s grandchildren failed. Saburi blamed herself for allowing Ganondorf to become a threat, so she promised that her guards would reopen investigations into their hideout. She also lent the castle a box of ancient scrolls and copies of tablets that had more information about the Gerudo’s shameful portion of history, in case it could offer any insight on whatever Ganondorf and the Yiga were plotting now.

Most of their research bored Zelda. He knew it was just Impa’s way of keeping him distracted while she did actual investigative work. Link, of course, didn’t mind being kept away from the kingdom’s problems. He readily became engrossed in the materials Saburi sent since he wasn’t often given the opportunity to simply read for extended periods. His training was so strict, he usually had to steal snatches of reading time during meals or before bed. When Zelda could convince Link to take a break, they practiced sparring. Their physical training sessions were the only thing that helped relieve Zelda’s restlessness. He didn’t want to be studying useless history – he wanted to be _doing_ something.

Impa came to them with an update in the middle of one of their sparring sessions in the courtyard outside Zelda’s room. After she hailed them, the young men sheathed their blades and hurried over to her.

“Anything new?” Zelda asked, wiping sweat from his brow. There was hardly a breeze today, so the muggy air caused by the moat had nowhere to go.

“No, unfortunately,” Impa answered. “Ganondorf refuses to crack, even though it’s clear the lack of food is taking its toll on him.”

Link looked concerned at the news. _“Will he starve to death?”_

Impa frowned at the question. “I would hope not.”

“If starving him doesn’t work, will my father really resort to torture?” Zelda rested his hand on the pommel of his rapier. “Considering his crime was nonviolent, it seems excessive.”

“I agree, but Ganondorf isn’t doing himself any favors by continuing to antagonize him.”

Zelda sighed. He wondered if Ganondorf was intentionally trying to make things worse or if it was just his personality to be obstinate.

_“What if we questioned his sword?”_

Seeming perturbed by Link’s suggestion, Impa said, “Some of the knights have offered that alternative, but it’s too dangerous. It’s already tried to convince several knights to unsheathe it.”

“Seriously?” Zelda knew he shouldn’t have been surprised that the sword was sentient even as a weapon instead of a person, but the idea was still unsettling.

“Yes. I’ve cautioned the knights against touching it, but I’m not sure that will be enough. If this blade is indeed Ghirahim, I doubt anything can actually contain him for long.”

 _“Except me?”_ Link slowly lowered his finger after pointing to himself, conveying his reluctance to acknowledge his duty as Hyrule’s Hero.

“Well, yes,” Impa answered haltingly, “but your Triforce and Zelda’s have yet to reveal their power. Without their aid, I would not want you to face him.”

“Can we just let me talk to Ganondorf then?” Zelda asked. “We’ve already agreed that we seem to have some common ground, so maybe I can get through to him.”

Impa shook her head. “I’ve already asked your father about the idea. He is adamantly against it.”

“Of course.” Zelda rolled his eyes. “Let me guess – it’s not my place as a ‘princess’ to interrogate prisoners?” he said, making air quotes as he spoke.

“You know how he is.” Impa gave Zelda an apologetic look, lifting her shoulders. “I will continue to do what I can. We get more hints out of Ganondorf when he’s antagonizing your father than when he’s just with me, but he riles him up so much every time it makes me fear for both the king’s health and his own care.”

“Hm.” Zelda crossed his arms as he considered this piece of information. Glancing at Link, they shared a knowing look. If things continued as they were, the king would certainly let Ganondorf die in his custody, either through negligence or on purpose.

Impa raised an eyebrow, facing the boys with a stern expression. “Do not even think about meddling with this. The last thing I need to worry about right now is keeping you two out of trouble.”

“We won’t. I’m just worried.” Zelda grabbed his ponytail and combed his fingers through it.

“I know.” Impa softened her expression. “Just trust me.”

Sighing, Zelda said, “Okay.”

* * *

The following day after Impa updated Link and Zelda, the young men joined the other knights for dinner. They ate at long tables in a mess hall connected to the guards’ chambers. It was where Zelda tended to have most of his meals, as his other options were to eat in his room or in the formal dining hall with his father. Needless to say, his father usually ate alone.

As Zelda sopped up gravy on his plate with a biscuit, Roam slid beside him on his bench. The older knight who had let them sneak out of the castle had a long, hawkish nose and swept back, fair hair. “Hey, kiddo. How’s our blushing bride-to-be?”

Zelda’s eyes narrowed at Roam. “Fine until you called me that.”

“You know I’m just joking.”

“You always are.” Zelda rolled his eyes. Roam endlessly teased Zelda about identifying as a man, but he at least never tried to make Zelda something he wasn’t. Most days he just came off as patronizing rather than actively malicious like the king, despite both Zelda and Link’s attempts to educate him. Roam just wouldn’t see it as anything other than a funny, teenage quirk. It was only because he let Link and Zelda get away with bending the rules that Zelda still preferred him over the other knights.

“Anyway,” Roam said, folding his elbow on the table, “Link told me the king won’t let you interrogate our new troublemaker. Do you still want to meet him?”

“Yeah?” Zelda lowered his biscuit to look suspiciously at Roam. “What are you implying?”

Link watched their exchange, wary.

“Well, I’ve been put into the rotation schedule for the lockup and west passage. If I happen to forget my shift tonight and leave my armor in my locker, I’m sure no one would notice my absence.”

Zelda’s eyebrows rose. “Are you serious?”

“Serious about what?” A mischievous glint appeared in the older knight’s gaze. “I’m a busy man. I have knights to keep away from a freaky sword, so I don’t have time to talk sense into more people determined to sabotage their own wellbeing.” Leaning forward, he added in an undertone, “In fact, some people like that could really just use a good meal.”

Roam suddenly stood back up. “But what would an old knight know?” he said, shrugging with his palms up. “Surely you kids with your book-smarts would know better.”

Link and Zelda faced each other, equally at a loss. Zelda didn’t want to break his word to Impa, but they were just handed a silver-platter opportunity to get information out of Ganondorf. And if their prisoner’s wellbeing was concerning enough to make Roam risk his job, Zelda knew his condition had to be serious.

“Well, I’ll leave you two lovebirds to enjoy the rest of your dinner,” Roam said, walking away. “My shift starts in an hour.”

 _“Should we?”_ Link signed, lips pursed with worry.

“I have to at least see him with my own eyes,” Zelda whispered. “I can use my magic to disguise myself as Roam. We’re about the same height, and with his armor, it won’t be hard at all.”

_“Impa will know if we give him food.”_

“True. But we can at least try to bring him something besides water, like a bottle of milk.”

Link’s expression remained doubtful, but he signed, _“Okay. We finish dinner and you change. I will stand watch.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you've enjoying reading so far, don't forget to comment! I'm happy with any kind of response, even if it's just keyboard smash or a heart emoji, like this <3.


	9. “You’re not anything like your namesake, are you?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Saturday and start of spring! My Twitter feed has been filled with people talking about Animal Crossing, and it's been so refreshing to only think about catching fish and bugs all day.

Having already had practice wearing armor with Link in Castle Town, Zelda had no issue going down to the lockup to take over Roam’s shift. The guard on the previous shift suspected nothing as Zelda bid him good evening, mimicking Roam’s voice and laidback mannerisms. The guard didn’t even seem to notice or care that Zelda was discretely holding a bottle of Lon Lon milk. If he did see it, Zelda figured that he must have assumed Roam just wanted a late-night pick-me-up. Zelda waited until the guard disappeared up the stairs before he turned to patrol the dungeon cells.

The first thing Zelda noticed as he came up to Ganondorf’s cell were his ridiculously large feet. They were crossed over each other and in the kind of pointed slippers Gerudo typically wore with their lightweight clothes, but Zelda had never seen vai shoes in that size.

When Zelda came to stop in front of Ganondorf’s cell, the rest of the man was just as startlingly large. He was laying on his side in his bed of straw, arm folded beneath his head. His legs were slightly folded because his length was longer than the depth of his cell. A too small blanket was draped over his chest and knees. His face had a slightly withdrawn appearance despite the red stubble covering his jawline, the kind that wasn’t mature enough to grow into a full beard, and his breathing seemed shallower than it should have been for someone of his size. The worrying sight made Zelda forget entirely about maintaining the enchantment disguising his face. It faded like a wisp of powder.

“Uh, hello?” Zelda stepped forward and held the cell door bars. “Are you asleep?”

Ganondorf yawned through his nose and cracked an eye open. Seeing the unfamiliar, young knight, he rubbed his eyes and leaned back slightly to get a better look at him. His pale face and delicate features looked odd within the frame of his helmet, as it was clearly too big for him. “What do you want?”

“I…” Zelda felt at a loss for words as he met the Gerudo’s amber gaze. No one said the man was beautiful. The royal heir had been imagining a rough and dirty thief, not a proper desert prince. His mind was torn between fulfilling his original intention of interrogating him and staring at his bicep and clavicle, the parts of his body not covered by his blanket. His arm was nearly as thick as a hydromelon, for Hylia’s sake!

Ganondorf raised an eyebrow, puzzled by the knight’s dumb stare. When he noticed the bottle of milk in his hand, his confusion increased. He forced himself to sit up and folded his blanket over his lap. His stomach had twisted itself into knots due to hunger pangs, but he did his best to ignore it in case the milk was meant to be a trap. “Did you come with a purpose or are you just going to keep staring at me?”

“Oh!” Zelda blushed. His gaze had been drawn to the Gerudo’s abs after his blanket came down, but his question brought him back to his wits. “Sorry.” He held out the milk through the cell door bars and struggled to keep his eyes off the Gerudo’s body. “I came to bring you this.”

Ganondorf’s eyes narrowed at the proffered bottle. “Is it drugged?”

“What?” Zelda asked, unprepared for the accusation. “No, of course not.”

“Drink it first and I’ll believe you.”

The intensity of Ganondorf’s stare unnerved Zelda, but he nodded. “Okay.” He uncapped the bottle and took a sip. After he wiped off his mouth with the back of his hand, he held it out towards Ganondorf again. “It’s safe.”

Though Ganondorf still regarded the bottle warily, he leaned forward on his knees to accept the milk. He gave it a cautious sniff before taking a drink.

Zelda expected him to greedily wolf down the rest of the bottle, but Ganondorf quietly regarded it for some time afterwards. He had a subdued, pensive air about him. After he took another sip, Zelda said quietly, “You’re not anything like your namesake, are you?”

Ganondorf breathed a bitter laugh. “What gave you that impression?”

“Just… everything about you.” Zelda gestured vaguely at him. “I heard from Impa that you were different, but…”

“You didn’t believe her?” Ganondorf raised his eyebrow again.

“Not really. I mean, not at first anyway. Seeing you in person is just different.”

“Hm.” Ganondorf turned back to the milk bottle, continuing to nurse it. His thoughts became occupied by the puzzle of this strange knight. He felt he should probably be offended by how he kept staring at him like some kind of free entertainment, but Ganondorf found he wasn’t opposed to the change of pace. Being alone with only his worries had been wearing him down more than he realized.

Zelda regarded Ganondorf for another minute before he sat down on the floor. It took a bit of finagling with his armor to get it to lay comfortably. Having gotten over his initial impression of the Gerudo’s physical features, though there was still plenty of him to occupy his attention, like the shape of his strong jaw and broad shoulders… Zelda wrenched back his attention to ponder Ganondorf as a person.

Leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, Zelda said, “Can I ask, what do you know about the castle? Did you do any research on the king and princess before you decided to come here?”

Surprised by the question, Ganondorf turned towards the knight with a discerning frown. “Why do you ask?”

“Because you seem to like antagonizing the king, but I don’t know if it’s because he’s done something personally to offend you or if it’s just his title you have a problem with.”

Ganondorf stared at the knight for a long moment. He wasn’t like the others, who stared but didn’t ask questions, and yet he wasn’t quite like the Sheikah woman either. The knight’s sympathy didn’t feel like a veneer over disdain. Ganondorf wondered if his line of questioning was meant to lead into some kind of trap, but his gift was safe and the information he wanted didn’t seem particularly dangerous.

“If you don’t want to answer, it’s okay,” Zelda said. “Impa doesn’t know I’m here. I wasn’t supposed to give you that either, but all the guards have noticed that you’re not doing so well. I just want to make sure the king doesn’t end up killing you before he gets what he wants.”

“Really?” Ganondorf looked back at the knight’s gift. He had finished a quarter of the bottle. If it was true that the knight was going against orders, it meant there was a possibility Ganondorf could convince him to do more for him. He had put off fighting his wardens and stealing their keys for this long because he still didn’t want to hurt any of them. He also didn’t particularly want to leave regardless, but getting a nonviolent means of escape was more important.

“Yeah.” Zelda folded his arms around the bars. “My shift doesn’t end for another three hours. I’m supposed to be patrolling through here to the end of the west passage, but I don’t particularly feel like walking in all this heavy armor.”

Ganondorf couldn’t help but laugh at that. “You do all look ridiculous wearing that much metal. A real warrior would trust their weapons and reflexes to protect them, not armor.”

“Yeah, it’s only really useful in war,” Zelda agreed. “The guys upstairs get royal uniforms, but the ones down here have to suit up.” He absentmindedly reached for his ponytail, forgetting his hair was braided under Roam’s helmet. Realizing his mistake, he fidgeted with his gloves instead. “You’d think we’d update all of our uniforms to match the times, but my—the king is a stickler for tradition.” He rubbed the back of his neck, chastising himself for the near slip up.

“Clearly.” His mirth turned bitter. “Distrusting Gerudo was supposed to be a thing of the past too, but he’s keeping that just as alive.” In a low voice, he added, “If I wasn’t what I am, I doubt he would have decided to hate me so much.”

“Goddesses, you and me both,” Zelda sighed. It was cathartic to hear someone else could feel the same way as he did about his father.

The comment piqued Ganondorf’s interest. “What could he possibly have against a knight?”

“Oh, uh, well…” Zelda lifted his shoulders, turning his gaze to a scuff on Roam’s armor. “You know. Not all of us act the way he wants.”

Ganondorf frowned at the evasive answer, but decided against pressing the subject. It would be too hypocritical of him to try. He still pondered what it could mean, though, as he traced his finger around the lip of his almost-empty bottle. Eventually, he asked, “May I ask your name?”

“It’s Roam,” Zelda answered.

Ganondorf looked up, baffled. “Really?”

“What?” Zelda became equally confused as he felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. Ganondorf shouldn’t have recognized the name unless Roam had already introduced himself, but if he did, he shouldn’t have been asking for his name to begin with.

“Another Roam visited my cell last night, but you look nothing like him.” At the knight’s look of panic, Ganondorf realized his visitor was an imposter. His eyes narrowed. “Who are you really?”

Zelda turned away his face and hid behind his hands, swearing. “I can’t tell you.” He couldn’t believe he let his disguise fail and hadn’t noticed. But then again, he had been thoroughly distracted. He mentally swore again.

“Why not?”

“Because!” Zelda realized his voice became more feminine in his panic, and he cringed behind his hands. “I have to go.”

The imposter knight jumped up to flee, but Ganondorf leapt forward and grabbed his leg through the bars. “Wait!” The knight yelped in fright and tried to pull himself free. Ganondorf’s hand tightened reflexively, but he forced his fingers to loosen their hold to prevent hurting him. Even with all of his armor, the knight’s ankle felt as delicate as a sand sparrow in his grip. “Please don’t go. I won’t tell anyone you were here.”

Zelda stopped struggling at the sound of desperation in the Gerudo’s voice. Hesitantly, he lowered his hands and glanced back at Ganondorf. His amber eyes were wide with genuine distress. Zelda swallowed hard and didn’t speak.

Slowly, Ganondorf released his hold on the imposter knight’s leg. He averted his eyes and said, “I don’t care who you are. I’ll call you whatever name you want. Just please don’t leave yet.”

Zelda remained in place, uncertain how to proceed. The Gerudo hung his head, as if ashamed of having asked for a stranger’s company. The sight hurt Zelda in the same way that seeing a caged lynel pained him. Eventually, Zelda sighed. “Okay.” He sat back down in front of Ganondorf’s cell.


	10. "I'll call you..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's Wednesday! I made a ton of last-minute edits on this chapter thanks to the assistance of [A_Virtuous_Pyromaniac](https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Virtuous_Pyromaniac)! They're my expert editor/logic checker, so they help me a lot in making sure my circuitous writing actually stays on track with my goals.

“Thank you,” Ganondorf murmured. “I suppose I owe you now for your kindness.”

“Don’t be stupid,” Zelda said, still embarrassed by his freak-out. “You said you won’t tell anyone I was here. That’s plenty.” Really, Zelda felt it was he who owed the Gerudo now that he had seen how his father’s orders were hurting him. His forced isolation without any current hope of a trial was worse than being starved. Giving him company was the least Zelda could do to repay the poor treatment he was getting.

Ganondorf smiled faintly. “Okay, but that seems a paltry price.” He picked straw off his pants. “You asked me earlier why I antagonize the king.” He picked off another piece of straw. Splitting it apart between his fingers, he considered his words carefully. “It is because he reminds me of the ones I have no power over, and so I resist him because I can.”

Zelda’s eyes widened at the confession. His mind rapidly turned over this new information with the facts he already knew. Pieces quickly fit together. “It wasn’t your decision to come here,” he said, more of a statement than a question. He had suspected as much, but the confirmation didn’t please him. It meant there was still a greater threat outside the castle that his father wasn’t taking seriously.

“No,” Ganondorf agreed, shaking his head. “If I tell Impa and the king this truth, the ones who sent me will hurt me and someone very dear to me.” He hesitated to continue explaining, as he realized he was walking a fine line now between sharing enough to warrant the knight’s company and endangering himself by revealing too much.

“Damn.” Zelda leaned back. “These people who sent you… They’re part of the Yiga Clan, right?”

Ganondorf nodded mutely. If the knight could deduce that much on his own, Impa probably already confirmed it through other means.

“I knew it!” Zelda said, hitting his fist on his hand. He wondered then why Ganondorf had so little power. His namesake was always the one in charge, not some puppet for other people. His Triforce piece was supposed to be the strongest. Unless he didn’t have it… Zelda looked at Ganondorf’s bandaged hand. It had to have the same mark he and Link carried. “Your Triforce can’t do anything either, can it?”

“Huh?” Ganondorf looked up, taken aback by the observation. It took him another moment to process the word ‘either’ in his question, and the implication filled him with disbelief. “Are you saying the princess and her hero have useless marks too?”

“Yeah. Nothing they’ve done has awoken them, though of course our citizens don’t know that.”

Ganondorf frowned in thought. “So it’s not just me that’s weird.”

Zelda nodded. “I think it’s weirder that they showed up at all. According to the castle’s history books, when the last Princess and Hero defeated Calamity Ganon, it was supposed to be the end of his resurrections. He used up all of his evil power in their final fight, and the princess used up Hylia’s grace to keep him sealed for a hundred years. The Triforce might’ve lost all of its power because of that fight too.”

Ganondorf gave the knight a doubtful look. “If that is the case, why do they still exist at all?”

“I don’t know.” Zelda shrugged. “But I do know that this isn’t going to help get you and your special someone free. There has to be a way to fight back or escape.”

“There isn’t.” Ganondorf stared at a crack in the dungeon’s stone floor. “We’ve tried countless times, but their magic is too powerful, and the desert’s unforgiving.”

Zelda pondered the dilemma for a moment. He doubted whatever magic the Yiga possessed was any stronger than what the Sheikah could do, but getting their help would require Impa and his father’s approval. Zelda then remembered the sword the knights took from Ganondorf, the one he claimed was possessed by a demon. If Ganondorf and Ghirahim were working together, there had to be a chance the demon was no worse than the Gerudo. “What if you used your sword? It’s Ghirahim, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, but the little shit barely listens to anything I say.” Ganondorf lifted and dropped his hands. “He only follows the Yiga because they’ve convinced him that they can make me remember being Demise.”

“So you’re not partners?” Zelda asked, tilting his head.

“Not exactly. He’s…” Ganondorf rubbed the back of his head. “Well, I guess the best word for him is babysitter. He keeps care of me and makes sure I follow the Yiga’s rules.”

“I see. That makes more sense.” Ghirahim was the only real threat then, Zelda figured. He continued thinking about their predicament. “What happens if you just stay here? Like, for all eternity as the king promises?”

“Not sure.” Ganondorf rested his chin on his knuckles. “If I don’t escape on my own, they’ll probably just impersonate some knights and take us back. The Yiga are masters of disguise.”

“That’s a concerning thought.” It occurred to Zelda that it would be all too easy to get the keys and free Ganondorf, but he knew that was a bad idea. It would just be trading one prison for another.

“It is, but I don’t expect them to try anything at least for a while. Sending me here is just another one of their tests. Getting caught was definitely a big fuckup, but it’s not one I can’t fix.”

“A test for what?” Zelda asked, puzzled. “Were you supposed to do something else besides destroy the treasure room?”

“That was actually an accident.” Ganondorf lifted his shoulders, sheepish. “I was looking for something else, and I tossed aside a bomb bag without realizing it still had active fuses.”

Zelda blinked, dumbfounded. “You’re serious?”

“Yes,” Ganondorf groaned, dragging a hand over his face. “It was such a stupid mistake. I should have let Ghirahim help me search, but I was trying to keep him away from the guards. Now I’m stuck here because I still don’t want to hurt them.” He held up his left hand and slipped off the bandages covering it. The faint yellow triangles looked washed out on his dark skin. “If this stupid thing worked, I would have had the strength to just bend those bars.” He dropped his hand again. Slowly rewrapping it, he said, “Since it doesn’t, I’ve just been wasting away here.”

“I see.” Zelda stared at Ganondorf’s hands for a moment before turning away his gaze. “Can you tell me what you were trying to get?”

“Yeah. The Sheikah slate.”

Zelda’s eyes widened. “What would the Yiga want with _that_?”

“To experiment and shit, I guess.” He shrugged. “They want it to control some new ancient tech thing.”

“Din’s balls, man!” Zelda sat forward with his hands on his knees. “You mean like the guardians?” Ganondorf merely nodded. In disbelief, Zelda exclaimed, “No! Those things took out entire towns. If they get a working one, it could kill a lot of people.”

“They already have working ones.” Ganondorf turned to lean against the wall and stretched out his legs to the other side of his cell. He set aside his empty bottle of milk and folded his hands over his waist. “Whatever they’re working on now is new, but I don’t know anything more than that.”

“Then that’s extra bad. We need to make sure they can’t use it or the Sheikah slate. I can ask Impa to look for it while our archivists go through the damage. If it is in there, she can make sure it’s moved somewhere more secure.”

“Wouldn’t asking reveal that you snuck down here?” Ganondorf glanced back at the knight.

“I mean, yeah, but this is more important than me getting told off.”

A muscle in Ganondorf’s jaw clenched. “If the Yiga learn I’ve betrayed their secrets, they’ll make me and the person I’m worried about suffer.”

“Then we’ll just have to save them.”

Ganondorf spun around. “I’ve already told you, it’s impossible!” He lowered his voice again. “You don’t know the Yiga like I do,” he said, facing the floor. “They’re not the joke they used to be generations ago. Their new leaders aren’t lazy idiots.”

“Well, I’m not an idiot either,” Zelda retorted. Whatever the Yiga did to intimidate Ganondorf, he trusted the castle’s forces to be able to handle it. Nothing was stronger than the Hyrule’s knights and Sheikah agents. “We can figure something out.”

“If it involves revealing the information I’ve given you, you’ve doomed us already.”

“No, it won’t. I’m not going to tell anyone but Impa and Link. We can trust them.”

“That woman humors a despot.”

“Because she has no choice, same as you.”

“It’s not the same!” Ganondorf snapped. “Your king’s power lies solely in the fact that no one opposes him. My oppressors wield actual dark magic.”

Zelda ran a hand over his face. “It’s not that simple,” he muttered, wishing Ganondorf wouldn’t belittle his father’s authority. It felt too much like an insult to his own lack of power. Facing Ganondorf again, he said, “Regardless of what you think, you can’t take back what you’ve told me. Either things will get better or they won’t. Your only choice now is what to do about it.” Holding out his hand imploringly, Zelda said, “I gave you a chance, so just give me one now.”

Ganondorf glowered at the knight. He maintained the severe expression for almost a minute before he sighed. “Fine.” He slumped back against the wall. “I knew I shouldn’t have trusted such a two-faced fox.”

“The only thing I’ve lied about is my identity,” Zelda answered.

“Yes, and you’ve yet to supply me with any name to call you.”

“Pick one then. I didn’t come with another name to give you.”

Ganondorf gave a disgruntled huff. “All right.” He took a moment to think. “I’ll call you Kit. You’re too little to be a full-grown fox.”

Zelda narrowed his eyes at Ganondorf, half-frowning. “Should I be insulted?”

“Take it as you will,” he answered, waving off the knight’s annoyance.

“Very well then.” Zelda went quiet as he wondered how much time had passed. Though he didn’t want to patrol the rest of the dungeon and west passage, knowing that the Yiga Clan might try to sneak in at any time lent more importance to the task. He grudgingly pushed himself back up to his feet. “I’m going to make a lap through my patrols, but I’ll be back.”

“Take your time. Our little talk has just about spent the little energy I’ve managed to save.”

Frowning, Zelda remembered that Ganondorf hadn’t had any sustenance besides milk in over three days. “I’ll make sure you get a real meal tomorrow.”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.” Ganondorf turned to lay back down on his side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Zelda finally has his new name! I've been only thinking of him as Kit for so long now, it's been super weird for me to not get to call him that in the comments on these first few chapters. But the reveal is out and I don't need to hide it anymore! Yay!


	11. “Still don’t trust me?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God, I just got through rereading my work for this fic and have been binge reading Vaati-centered fics all week, so now I'm just a mopey ball of impatience because I want y'all to meet my Vaati. Unless we get a bunch of kudo bonus updates, though, he's not gonna show up until the end of next month. (I introduce him in chapter 19).
> 
> I know I'm doing this to myself and could very easily just... upload everything, but I'm very protective of my buffer. I like having updates spaced out and talking to my readers. And since I'm still struggling to get book 2 to go _anywhere_ , really, I need the extra time to figure things out.

“So now he’s certain that the Yiga Clan are going to hurt whoever this person is that he cares about,” Zelda finished explaining to Link. The two of them returned to Zelda’s bedroom after Zelda finished Roam’s shift, and they had stayed up even later than Zelda intended because it took so long for him to explain everything.

 _“Situation’s bad, but I agree,”_ Link signed, blond eyebrows pursed with determination. _“We must do something.”_

“But what?” Zelda asked. “I don’t even know how to get him a full meal.”

 _“Impa and Saburi will help. Did Ganondorf say more about Yiga leaders?”_ As Link signed from his seat on the side chair, he established shorthand locations for everyone they were discussing. Saburi’s place was by Zelda’s western window, the Yiga leaders were in a dark corner, Impa was by the door, and Ganondorf was on the sofa next to Zelda. It was easier to point to each of these locations than to spell out their names every time.

The fact that Link was picturing Ganondorf so close to Zelda made him internally blush, but he didn’t dare dispute the marker. It would mean explaining his embarrassment, and he certainly wasn’t ready to try yet. He wasn’t even sure what to think of his attraction towards the Gerudo. It was more than likely completely one-sided, and Zelda and Link were going to be married in less than two months, after all. Even if they called it off, there was no way his father would even consider accepting Ganondorf.

Link waved to get Zelda’s attention, frowning with concern. He repeated his question. _“Did Ganondorf say more about Yiga leaders?”_

“Oh, sorry. No.” Zelda shook his head. “He wouldn’t even name them.”

 _“We need their names,”_ Link signed, including Saburi and Impa in his sweeping gesture. _“Saburi’s forces are investigating their hideout. More information will protect them.”_

“Right.” He tugged on his ponytail, anxious. “But we don’t know how much we can share without arousing the Yiga Clan’s suspicion.”

_“We let them decide. Saburi’s smart. Impa too.”_

Zelda nodded, though he wasn’t fully convinced. “If you say so.” He glanced out the window. The almost full moon had moved far while they talked. “I’ll talk to her in the morning, and you should find Roam to make sure I can take his shift again.” Then he remembered the tedium of patrolling the empty halls. “Actually, maybe just tell him to expect me down there. I can borrow your armor if I need to sneak down there again.”

 _“Good plan.”_ Link got up to return to his bunk in the knights’ chambers.

* * *

When Impa came down to visit Ganondorf in the afternoon after Zelda explained what he had learned, the Sheikah found the Gerudo asleep.

“Little late to sleep in, isn’t it?” Impa remarked.

Ganondorf groaned and folded his other arm over his head. “Go away.”

“Even though I’ve brought you this?” Impa set down a tray with a bowl of meat stew and a nutcake.

“Hm?” Ganondorf’s nose picked up the scent of the stew and he jerked upright. “Food?” His head spun from rising so quickly, but it went easily ignored. The stew smelled fantastic. Even still, he reminded himself of his situation and narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Impa. “Why did you bring me this?”

“The friend you call Kit told me about your little meeting.” Impa lifted her hands. “As much as I want to be mad at him for going behind my back like that, he’s not the one I need to blame.” She gestured to his lunch. “So, eat up. We got answers, so you get food.”

Though Ganondorf wanted to refuse on principle, he couldn’t deny his hunger pangs. The tender chunks of meat and carrots looked too good to refuse. As he picked up his bowl, he asked, “Does that mean you’ve told the king everything?”

“Not yet. I’m still working out how to bring him over to your side now that you’ve so thoroughly set him against you.”

Ganondorf merely grunted in response, digging into his soup. It surprised him that Impa believed Kit at face value. He wondered if he had pegged her wrong after all. If the king was alone in his prejudice, Impa’s previous coldness seemed more like a prudent choice than simple animosity now. It didn’t change the fact that she had enabled the king’s cruelty, though, and that made her no better than Ghirahim.

After Ganondorf swallowed a bite of meat, he asked, “How’s the treasure room?”

“Remarkably better now that we’ve cleared out the burned material, but everything’s still covered in soot.”

Ganondorf didn’t look up as he stirred his soup and scooped out another chunk. “What about the Sheikah slate?”

Impa crossed her arms. “I’m not answering that question.”

The response made him pause, but he merely sighed. “Still don’t trust me?” The distrust was warranted, given her reminder about the state of the treasure room, but it still somehow disappointed him.

“No, but I’m also not telling Kit anything about it. You kids don’t need that kind of information.”

The side of Ganondorf’s mouth quirked up. Leveling a droll look at the Sheikah woman, a he said, “Do I look like a child to you?”

Impa met his gaze with an unimpressed look. “You sure act like one.”

Ganondorf laughed. Turning to face his bowl again, he said, “Fair enough.”

“Anyway,” Impa said, shifting her weight to one hip, “we still need more information out of you if we’re to help free you and your friend held hostage. Who are the current leaders of the Yiga Clan? How many people serve them? Are they all only in Karusa Valley or have they expanded to other bases?”

“That’s an awful lot of questions for a person to answer while eating.”

“Then finish your lunch and think about what else you can tell us. Now that we have the chance, I’d like snuff out their insurgency once and for all. Chief Saburi is already sending warriors to investigate.”

“None of them will return home alive. I’ve seen what they do to snooping outsiders.”

“Well, you’ll have to tell us what they do.”

Ganondorf only hummed in response while he tried a bite of his nutcake. It was satisfyingly dense and mildly sweet, but with his soup, it was a bit more than he could handle after having an empty stomach for so long. He set it aside to save it for later.

After he slurped up the remaining broth in his bowl, Ganondorf stood to stretch out his legs. His elbows brushed the ceiling as he stretched his shoulders, pressing his hands against his neck. He bent to reach his toes and then twisted at his hip to pop his back.

As Ganondorf stretched one of his arms by folding it over his chest, Impa said, “You’re stalling.”

Ganondorf continued as if he hadn’t heard her.

Impa sighed in exasperation. “Is Kit the only one you’ll talk to?”

“I prefer his company to yours.”

Impa rubbed her temples, seeming to bite back a response. She took a moment to compose herself. “You know whatever you tell him will still come back to me, right?”

“Yeah.” Ganondorf also knew that whatever he told Impa wouldn’t necessarily make it back to Kit. Whatever the boy’s station was, he couldn’t have been very high in the knight’s ranking. He was probably nothing more than an apprentice, despite having the ambition of a captain. Ganondorf couldn’t fault him for wanting to rise up.

“Very well then.” Impa put Ganondorf’s empty bowl on the tray she brought and picked up both. “I will ensure he returns to you this evening.”

* * *

“Congrats,” Impa told Zelda in his room, sounding more annoyed than pleased. “Ganondorf refuses to answer any questions unless they come from you.”

“Really?” Zelda looked up from his rapier. He had been in the middle of giving it its weekly oiling at his desk when Impa came in.

“Yes, for some reason you’ve caught his fancy.”

“Oh.” Zelda blushed and turned back to his rapier. He knew Impa didn’t mean it in that way, but his heart still fluttered at the thought that Ganondorf liked him in return.

The blush didn’t escape Impa’s notice. “You need to convince him that he can talk to me too.” She put her hand on Zelda’s desk and bent forward. “Soon you won’t have any time to visit him, and if he keeps being contrary, he’s going to remain in lockup until after the wedding.”

The mention of the wedding immediately soured Zelda’s mood. “It’s not like I need to be a part of the planning. My father cares more about all the particulars than me.”

“It looks bad if you don’t participate, and he has plenty to manage already with running Hyrule. Just make Ganondorf work with me so I can sort out this mess.”

Zelda rolled his eyes. “Fine. I’ll try, but don’t expect wonders.”

“That’s all I ask.”


	12. “I brought you a surprise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo! *waves pom-poms* We hit 75 kudos! And because tomorrow is Wednesday, we'll get another update really soon. 
> 
> I made some last-minute edits on this chapter too, so now the total word count of this story is almost 117K. ^^; I had thought my edits would just be fixing typos or rewriting weak descriptions, but nope -- I keep finding ways to add more details to every scene, to emphasize unspoken words through actions or to elaborate on characters' thoughts. These are the details that are clear to me in my first drafts, because I'm there in the room with my characters, but readers are basically watching through an opaque wall. Every pass through revision is my attempt to make that wall more clear.

Ganondorf kept himself entertained while he waited for Kit’s return by braiding straw. The brittle material was difficult to manipulate with his large fingers, but it was a welcome challenge in the face of little else to do. It absorbed him so much, he didn’t even notice the faint footfalls of Kit coming up to his cell.

“Good evening,” Zelda said brightly, bouncing on his heels with his hands hidden behind his back. Now that he had Impa’s permission, he had forgone armor completely and wore his usual grey shirt and pants. The only new addition were fingerless gloves to cover his Triforce mark. So long as he didn’t let Ganondorf know ‘Kit’ was Hyrule’s princess, the Gerudo would never know he was anything other than a man. It was a rare opportunity Zelda sorely didn’t want to screw up, especially considering his budding affections.

Ganondorf looked up with a start. “Kit?” His eyebrows rose as he took in the knight’s appearance. He had shockingly long, brown hair tied up in a high ponytail, and he was more slender than he expected, seeming all skin and bones without the bulk of his armor. His long limbs might have looked awkward on anyone else, but he stood with a casual confidence that Ganondorf found surprisingly charming. He set aside his straw braiding and sat forward. “Where’s your uniform?”

“Upstairs.” Zelda rocked between his toes and heels, trying and failing to play it cool. He didn’t want to look _too_ happy to see Ganondorf again. “The real Roam’s working, so I don’t need it.”

“Oh. Then this is what you usually look like?” Ganondorf hoped it was.

“Yeah,” Zelda answered, nodding. He crossed his legs as he sat in front of Ganondorf’s cell. Revealing what he had hidden behind his back, he held out a canteen and a waxed paper parcel tied off with twine. “Here, I brought you a surprise.”

“Another gift?” Taken aback, Ganondorf accepted the parcel and pulled off the twine. His eyes widened at the contents. Inside was a mix of mushroom and veggie rice balls wrapped in banana leaves, an egg tart, and a bag of honey candy.

“I wasn’t sure if the meals they’re bringing you now would really be enough, so I got some stuff that should keep between now and your next meal.” Pointing to the canteen, Zelda added, “That has an energizing elixir in it, to help bring back your strength.”

Ganondorf didn’t know how to respond. It was such a simple gesture, but the kindness almost seemed too much. He picked up one of the honey candies and stared at the individually wrapped piece. Softly, he asked, “Did you make all this?” He rolled the piece of candy between his fingers, marveling at the thought of Kit twisting off the paper on every one.

“Link helped. And by helped, I mean he basically made all of it.” Zelda grinned, sheepish. “I’m an awful cook. Like, the worst, actually.”

Ganondorf smiled at the admission. “You’ll have to thank Link for me then. It looks delicious.” He set aside the food and opened the canteen to take a swig of the elixir. It tasted earthy and bitter, like grass pulped into green tea. His sore back and the lingering sluggish feeling from being starved faded immediately.

“I’m sure he’ll be happy to hear that.” Zelda held his ankles and leaned forward. “So… Is there a reason you’d rather answer Impa’s questions through me instead of just talking to her?”

“Well, food is a great motivator.”

Zelda snorted. “If that was the case, Impa could’ve gotten you to talk. You didn’t even know I’d bring you any of this.” He tipped his head to the side. “Why me, really?”

Ganondorf turned to lean against the wall. He picked back up his straw braiding and fiddled with its loose ends. As he dug through his bedding for another piece to weave into it, he said, “I just figured we could both benefit from the arrangement. There’s a reason you’d rather be down here than upstairs, isn’t there?” He glanced at Kit with a shrewd gaze, lifting his eyebrows slightly.

Zelda felt his heart clench. Bashful, he turned away to hide his blush. His toes curled in his boots. Unthinkingly grabbing his ponytail, he began running his fingers through his hair. “I mean, not really…”

Ganondorf stared at him, bemused. “You’re a terrible liar.”

Zelda blushed more and wished he had thought to ask Link to make him a chilly elixir to combat the heat in his cheeks. “I’m not normally,” he said. It was hard to keep up his aloof act when the Gerudo’s amber gaze felt like sunlight on his soul. None of the nobles who had tried to court him ever had that effect.

“Really?” Ganondorf found that hard to believe. He couldn’t decide what to make of Kit’s bashful behavior. It was cute, certainly, but baffling. It was almost as if… Ganondorf then felt his own face warm and he jerked back. “Wait, shit.” His eyes were wide. “Do you like me?”

Ganondorf expected Kit to be scandalized by the question and tell him that he really was just after a promotion, but the knight went hearty radish red. “No! Not like, well, I mean…” He hid behind his hands and pulled his knees up to his chest. “I don’t know…”

Ganondorf’s shoulders fell in disbelief as his eyebrows rose. “Oh… Huh.” He leaned back. His wrists rested on his legs. No one had ever expressed interest in him like this before. He hadn’t thought he would ever even have the opportunity to pursue anyone like that, though it was a wish he had harbored for some time now. Continuing to stare at Kit, his brow furrowed. “Does that mean you’re actually a girl?”

Zelda’s hands dropped. “No!” He got onto his knees and grabbed the cell bars, looking distraught by even the suggestion. “I’m not, I swear!” Ganondorf gaped at his outburst. The Gerudo’s expression might as well have stabbed him in the gut.

Zelda sat back down on his heels and hung his head. His hands dropped down and gripped his knees. Ganondorf’s expression was the face that always told him he was a freak. He didn’t need to speak for Zelda to hear all the words that always accompanied it. _Nothing but a princess_ , his father’s voice echoed in his mind. _Not really a boy_ , knights said to apprentices. _She’s only doing it for attention,_ maids whispered amongst themselves in the hall. _You’re just a tomboy,_ Roam had said, as if Zelda was the confused one. As if Zelda’s identity could be debated, questioned, doubted, belittled. Zelda hated himself for thinking this time could have been any different. If he hadn’t slipped into a false sense of confidence, hadn’t let himself think he could escape the truth of his body, Ganondorf’s realization might not have hurt as much.

Zelda’s voice dropped to a whisper. “You don’t believe me, do you?”

Ganondorf’s confusion flew into alarmed worry. “What? No, I mean, I do?” He crawled forward and sat in front of the cell bars. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.” Kit seemed even smaller up close, all folded over as he was. Ganondorf put his hands on the ground and bent forward to try to see Kit’s face. The lanky boy had curled up so much, it was hard for the Gerudo to lower himself any further.

“You can be whatever you say you are,” Ganondorf said quietly.

Zelda inhaled, breath catching in his throat. Hope tentatively rekindled.

“I just don’t understand.” Ganondorf heard Kit exhale forcefully. He saw his nails dig into his knees. Feeling that he somehow said the wrong thing, he became more concerned and tried again. “I’m sorry. I know Gerudo women take partners with each other, but I didn’t think Hylians did anything like that.”

“They don’t, not normally.” Zelda hesitantly looked back up at Ganondorf. The Gerudo had hunched down so low, Zelda was struck by his similarity to a Hylian retriever on his haunches. Zelda huffed a broken laugh, a sound on the edge of a sob. “You look ridiculous.” A man thrice his size had no business looking so clueless and endearing.

“Huh?” Ganondorf jerked back upright. “You were the one shrinking so much I could barely see you.”

“Yeah, but you’re…”

“Supposed to be scary?” Ganondorf finished for him.

“Just big.” Zelda breathed another broken laugh. “You’re not scary.”

“Well, I won’t argue against that.” Rubbing the stubble on his chin, Ganondorf briefly wished he had a razor. He wondered how to proceed. He should have kept his big mouth shut, but as usual, he didn’t think before he acted. He glanced back at the parcel Kit brought. “Um…” He reached into it to get the bag of honey candy. “I think you could use these more than me right now,” he said, holding it out towards Kit.

Zelda looked up again. Seeing the bag, his expression became a cross between amused and exasperated. “Those are you for, dummy.” He ran his hand over his face. “Goddesses, you must think I’m such a freak.”

“Why?” Ganondorf asked, setting aside the candy again.

“Because!” Zelda threw up his hands. “I’m a boy that was supposed to be a damn girl, and I can’t even get that right because I still like guys. And I’m humiliating myself even more by talking about it, apparently, because I’m just that much of a screw up.” He pressed his fists against his forehead and hunched in his shoulders, as if he could hide behind his hands.

“Kit, honestly, who the fuck cares? You’re talking to a failed king of evil bullshit.” Ganondorf gestured to himself. “Want to know what’s really humiliating? Getting locked up because I bombed my own ass. If you feel like a fuck-up, that just makes two of us. Like two seeds in like a… a rotting hydromelon or something.” He swept a hand over his hair before leaving it on the back of his neck. “I don’t know where I was going with that.”

Zelda laughed. “I don’t know either.”

“Yeah, but hey – I made you laugh. So, that’s progress, right? I don’t really know how to do the whole being good thing, so you’ll just have to tell me if I’m on the right track.”

“You are.” Zelda wiped a bead of tears from his eye. “You don’t have to try so hard.”

“I really don’t know what else I’m supposed to do if I don’t.”

“Maybe pretend all this didn’t just happen?” Zelda scrunched his mouth up into an awkward half-smile, lifting up his hands with a shrug.

“Somehow I don’t think that’s gonna work.”

“Damn.”

The two of them stared at each other for a moment before both of them started laughing again. When they could collect themselves, Zelda rested his forehead on his hand. He marveled that Ganondorf didn’t continue to question him. Out of all the people in the castle, he accepted Zelda as he was with the least persuading. It was a cruel irony that the acceptance came from someone who had supposedly been his enemy in past lives.

Zelda sighed and dropped his hands onto his lap. “Nayru’s tits, we have to get you out of here. Out of all of this.”

“But how?” Ganondorf asked. “I don’t want any of your people to die for me.” He studied Kit’s face and averted eyes, trying to understand what it was about himself that made the knight so endeared towards him. As far as he could tell, he had done nothing to warrant his amity.

“It wouldn’t just be for you.” Zelda began fidgeting with his ponytail again. “It’d also be for that person you’re worried about, and everyone else the Yiga Clan has hurt.”

“But what if it doesn’t work? A whole bunch of people die and they still take me back?”

Zelda looped his hair around his fingers. He tugged on the strands, turning his knuckles white. “That isn’t going to happen.”

Ganondorf sighed, shaking his head. “You’re really stubborn, aren’t you?”

“I’ve been called that, yeah.” Zelda smiled, trying to make his confidence look convincing.

“What a surprise.” Ganondorf paused, reconsidering his doubts. He had no reason to trust the knight. Kit was just one man. But Impa trusted him, and so did Link, apparently, if he was to believe Kit’s gift was really made by him. Even if the Sheikah was only pretending to be willing to help him, Ganondorf knew the stories about Hyrule’s Hero. If the Link of this century was anything like his predecessor, he would be the one who would be able to defeat his mothers.

Ganondorf faced Kit again. “If we’re really going to be serious about this, go get Impa and some paper. Link and the knights will need to know how to navigate the Yiga’s base if they’re going to storm it.”

Zelda’s eyebrows rose. “Really?”

“Yeah.” Ganondorf shrugged. “No point beating around the bush if you’re all doing this with or without me. So, go on, get,” he said, waving him off. “Not like I’m going anywhere.”

“Oh. Okay.” Zelda hopped up. “I’ll be back soon.”


	13. “What a marvelous idea, Ganny!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another Wednesday, another update! I thought about uploading a joke version of this chapter in honor of April Fool's, but I didn't have any good ideas or enough time to write anything silly anyway. 
> 
> I hope everyone's able to take advantage of the incoming spring weather -- I'll be enjoying it while I move into my new apartment this weekend.

Impa was sitting on her knees, silently intoning her nightly prayers to Cotera when Zelda came to fetch her. Unlike most of the castle, Impa’s room followed Sheikah traditions. The floor was lined with tatami mats, and she was facing a kamidana shrine near the top of the wall to the right. Fresh blue nightshade and an opal were set on its offering shelf.

Despite being so far away from Kakariko, Impa still honored the Great Fairy who watched over their village. The Sheikah people had Cotera to thank for protecting them during and after the Calamity. Even though they had almost let her power dwindle to nothing when they stopped paying their respects at her fountain, being unable to make the trek because of monsters, she forgave them. A Great Fairy without worshipers was naught but a shadow of their full self.

Zelda rarely ever spared a passing thought to Impa’s shrine, but he did wonder why central Hyrule didn’t have a fairy fountain. There was one in each of its four corners, but none near the castle. The only explanations he could think of were their proximity to the Korok Forest in the Lost Woods and the royal family’s connection to Hylia. They had the Great Deku Tree and the Goddess to protect them instead. Neither of them was likely going to do anything to help Ganondorf, however, so he put aside his musing to wake Impa.

Though Impa was irritated to be interrupted during her bedtime ritual, she quickly put it aside in favor of supporting the progress Zelda made with Ganondorf. She wasn’t quite sure how he had managed to change the Gerudo’s tune so suddenly, but she had her suspicions as she watched Zelda skip ahead. She just hoped her intuition was wrong.

As they went down the stairs to the lockup, Impa heard two voices raised in an argument. She tensed and grabbed Zelda’s shoulder, stopping him in his tracks. He looked up at her, startled, then noticed the voices as well. His eyes widened. Impa passed Zelda the clipboard and paper they had brought and put her finger over her lips. She crept forward to stand in front of Zelda. Her hand hovered over her belt where she kept hidden needle daggers.

* * *

Minutes after Zelda had left the dungeon, Ganondorf recoiled at the sight of his demon sword in his Hylian form. He jumped up to his feet and balled his fists. “Why are you here?” Ganondorf hissed.

“Oh, Ganny, you didn’t _honestly_ think I wouldn’t persuade _someone_ to free me eventually, did you?” Ghirahim swept his long, white bangs to the side, despite that they immediately fell back over half of his face. His sheath hung empty on the gold sash around his waist, as well as Ganondorf’s twin blades.

Ganondorf stepped up to his cell door and held the bars. The demon’s height hardly reached the middle of his chest. Leaning forward, Ganondorf snarled, “You can’t be here! Did you kill anyone?”

“No, I was feeling generous,” Ghirahim answered flippantly. “Now, let us depart for the treasure room.” He held up a ring of keys and twirled them around his finger. “We’re busy, busy, _busy_ , and very behind schedule.”

“The Sheikah slate isn’t here,” Ganondorf bluffed. “It was cleared out with everything else after we burned down the place.”

Ghirahim looked scandalized by the idea before he pursed his lips. Putting one hand on his hip, he bent forward and pointed up at Ganondorf. “How would _you_ know that?”

“I got my own helper.” Ganondorf gestured to Kit’s gifts. “He’s been sneaking me food and telling me about what’s been going on in the castle.”

“Oh?” Ghirahim leaned to the side to look around Ganondorf at the canteen and unwrapped parcel. “How glorious!” He clapped. “Maybe our visit won’t be such a waste after all. Tell me, how did you get your helper’s assistance?”

Ganondorf looked away. “He just likes me.”

“Like you? Oh ho ho!” Ghirahim laughed. “You’re joking – you must be. Who could possibly like you, in _this_ kingdom?”

Leveling a glare at the demon, Ganondorf said, “A person who isn’t obsessed with chaos and destruction.”

“You wound me,” Ghirahim said dramatically, putting a hand over his forehead and bending backwards. “I vie for perfection and nothing else.” He lifted up his head to face him again. “You know that.”

Ganondorf continued glaring at Ghirahim, unfazed. “You’re the one who took it personally when I didn’t even name you.”

“Don’t hide behind technicalities.” Ghirahim waved away the rebuke. “Now, can this helper tell us where the slate was moved? If not, we must see about keeping in touch. An agent within these walls will be an invaluable addition to your mothers’ network.”

“I don’t know,” Ganondorf answered, suddenly regretting having mentioned Kit at all. “He’s not very important.”

“A small detail that can be remedied soon enough.” Ghirahim tried a key for his cell. “We can—”

“I’m not leaving.”

Ghirahim faltered as he tried another key. “You’re not?” He looked bewildered. “Why ever not?”

“I can learn more if I stay here.” Ganondorf held up a hand to halt Ghirahim’s protest. “Just listen to me. They think I was here to destroy the artifacts, not to steal anything. They’re sending people to Karusa Valley because they know I exist now, and they think they have the upper hand with me in their custody. Surely my mothers can do something with that?”

“Hmm… Perhaps.” Ghirahim paced in front of Ganondorf’s cell. “It is true the Gerudo warriors have been a thorn in our side for quite some time. If we can wipe them all out at once…” He gasped. “The bloodshed would bathe the sand crimson! Oh, it would be beautiful! Absolutely exquisite!” He clasped his hands over his heart. Spinning back towards Ganondorf, he exclaimed, “What a marvelous idea, Ganny!”

The image turned Ganondorf’s stomach, but he held his stony expression. “Glad you like it.”

“I’ll return at once to let them know.” Ghirahim hopped back. “Ta-ta!” He vanished with a sound of tinkling glass and shadowy black diamonds.

Ganondorf hit his face with both hands and dragged them over his eyes. “Fucking shitballs…” No sooner after he swore, he heard a pair of footsteps hurry down the hall. Seeing Impa and Kit, his hands fell to his sides. “I am so sorry.” He turned away again and pushed his hands through his hair. “The Yiga are going to slaughter Saburi’s forces.”

“We heard,” Impa said grimly. “How soon will Ghirahim return?”

“I don’t know. It could be minutes or days!”

“How likely is it to be minutes?”

“Uh…” Ganondorf took a breath to try to calm himself. “Not likely. He’d have to wake my mothers and then he’d need time to explain everything. But if he has a question… Fuck, I don’t know what to tell him if he sees you two.”

“We’ll play dumb,” Impa said. “I’ve visited you plenty of times before now to interrogate you, and he doesn’t have to know who Kit is.”

Zelda stepped up to his cell and held the bars. “It’ll be okay,” he said. “Just tell us what we need to have a chance against them.”

Ganondorf took another deep breath. “Right. Okay.” He looked back down at Kit and Impa. “The leaders of the Yiga are named Koume and Kotake. They like to call themselves Twinrova. They’re also my mothers.”

Impa’s eyes widened. “Surely they can’t be the same Twinrova from millennia ago?”

“There was another?” Zelda looked taken aback by the idea.

“If they’re the same,” Ganondorf said, “they’ve aged remarkably well.” Neither Kit nor Impa seemed to get he was joking, so he added, “It’s not their real name. They adopted it and their other names after they took over the Yiga because they admired the original witches.”

“Oh.” Zelda half-frowned. “So that’s also why they named you Ganondorf?”

The Gerudo shrugged. “Basically. History gives these names weight.”

“And I don’t like the weight it lends,” Impa stated, frowning. She reached for the clipboard Zelda still held and handed it to Ganondorf. “Please, quickly sketch what you can of their base and the areas we should be aware of.”

“Okay.” Ganondorf sat down and took the pencil Kit passed to him next. Being a Hylian-sized writing instrument, it felt like a twig in his hand. “The entrance from West Barrens is the most fortified area, and it’s a long trek through sand and stone pillars. Foot soldiers hide behind them to pick off intruders,” he said, sketching a rough map of Karusa Valley. “To come in from the cliffs overhanging the hideout is no better. Cutting rappel ropes with their duplex bows is child’s play.” He pointed to the back of the valley. “If you attempt to mount the Highlands and are actually able to make it up through the snow, it will be impossible to retreat if things go wrong.”

“All this I know,” Impa stated. “I need to know what’s _inside_ their base.” She pointed to the valley between Meadela’s Mantle and Sapphia’s Table. “Our history books tell us the Yiga built the bulk of their hideout underground here, but we don’t know how to navigate that space.”

“Right. Well, if you come in through the Barrens, you’ll find a cave with a raised altar in its center. Around it are a bunch of staircases between Gerudo statues.” Ganondorf flipped over to a fresh page to sketch it. “The entrance to the oldest part of the base is behind this one,” he said, circling it, “but they’ve expanded since then, and most of the tunnels are connected.” He labeled the other entrances. Tapping his pencil on the paper, he tried to remember where each of the tunnels connected to each other.

“Which way would take us to the armory? And Twinrova’s rooms? Where would they keep the person you’re worried about?”

“Uh, the armory should be…” Ganondorf mentally retraced his steps from his living quarters. “It would be about here.” He sketched out the way and connected it to another piece of paper. “They practice magic here.” He then drew a large circle. “This is the arena. It’s probably the most dangerous place in the entire hideout, so stay away from it.”

Zelda stared at the circle. “Why?” He looked up at Ganondorf. “Do they keep monsters in there?”

“Not always.” Ganondorf tightened his hold on the pencil. “They change out what’s in it a lot to test my survival skills.” He didn’t want to continue dwelling on it, so he added more tunnels and said, “My mothers’ rooms are here. My room is here, and it’s connected to my sister’s room.” His pencil stopped after he circled them. “She’s who I’m worried about.”

“You have a sister?” Zelda said, having already forgotten the research he and Link did. Impa only looked more concerned.

“Yes.” Ganondorf sighed. “Her name is Nabooru, and she’s five years older than me. They kidnapped both of us when they killed our birth mother.”

“Lady Inume?” Impa asked, somber. She had known Chief Saburi’s daughter before her death and had seen Nabooru as a baby. Though she had expected Ganondorf’s sister to be his cause for concern, the confirmation of her fears was not happy news.

When Ganondorf nodded, Zelda said, “So he really is Saburi’s grandson?” Zelda was amazed at the thought that Ganondorf was _actually_ a prince in blood and not just metaphor. He was half-expecting that the Yiga Clan had brought him to life with some sort of evil summoning spell.

“Yes.” Impa turned back to Ganondorf’s map. “Regardless, please go on. We’ll need more than a few drawings to be successful.”

Ganondorf nodded. “Of course.” He turned back to the paper to continue mapping the Yiga Clan’s base.


	14. “Cavorting with evil – is this how a princess acts?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh, moving is exhausting. I thought it'd be all fine because I gave myself a whole week to switch between places, but dang, I have too much stuff.

When Impa got what she deemed to be enough information to storm the Yiga Clan’s base from Ganondorf, she thanked the Gerudo for his help.

“The hard part now will be convincing the king to send people to Karusa Valley,” Impa said, straightening out the papers on the clipboard. “This endeavor has only potential grave costs and no direct benefit for the castle. Unless we can prove Twinrova are more of a threat left unchecked than not, I don’t see him agreeing.”

“Nabooru’s the rightful heir of the Gerudo tribe,” Ganondorf said. “If he rescues her, the Gerudo will be in his debt.”

“But isn’t every male Gerudo supposed to become king by law?” Zelda asked.

“I’m fairly certain Saburi repealed that law,” Impa said. “However, if she hasn’t and he abdicates his position, it would go to Nabooru.” She faced Ganondorf. “Is that what you want?”

“Of course. She’s smarter than me, and I wouldn’t trust myself with that kind of responsibility regardless.”

“I guess that’s fair,” Zelda said. “I’d take it, though.”

“All this is purely hypothetical, too, you know,” Impa said. “After Saburi lost all of her heirs, she named one of her advisors her successor. I imagine she would reverse that decision if Nabooru can be rescued, but to be blunt, the Gerudo do not necessarily need her back.” Looking back at Ganondorf, she asked, “Is there anything else you can think of that could motivate the king to lend aid?”

“Uh, well, my mothers have tons of dangerous shit that he’d want to get out of their hands, but I don’t know the full list of everything they have that he can use.” He paused to think. “There’s also the nursery.” At Impa and Kit’s concerned and bewildered expressions, he elaborated, “The original members of the Yiga indoctrinate their kids with their bullshit. I don’t get to be around any of them because they think I’m their reborn god, but Nabooru has to help take care of the infants. If we can take down the Yiga, we can get them free too.”

“As awful as this sounds,” Impa said, “I don’t think that will be enough to convince him either.” She rubbed her temples. “Our people will always come before those of other lands.”

“Then what else can we say?” Zelda asked, facing Impa. “We can’t just give up without even trying to talk to him.”

“I’m not sure.” Impa frowned at Zelda. “It also doesn’t help matters that I will need to come clean about your involvement. There are limits to how much I can do without his knowledge without jeopardizing his trust in me.”

Zelda leaned away, aghast. “You can’t tell him! He’ll kill me!”

“Kit.” Impa raised her eyebrows, facing Zelda sternly. “Don’t be dramatic. I’ve told you time and time again that you shouldn’t break rules without telling me. I’ll do what I can to divert blame to myself, but you must be ready to face repercussions for your actions.”

“Why only me? Link and Roam helped.”

“I know. I didn’t say they wouldn’t be punished too.”

The correction did nothing to improve Zelda’s mood. “It’s not fair. I should be getting rewarded for getting Ganondorf to talk, not be in trouble.”

“I agree, honestly,” Ganondorf said. “It’s not Kit’s fault I was acting like an asshole. The king was the one who wasn’t willing to trust me in the first place, and that was the only reason I didn’t want to answer your questions.”

“Be that as it may, the king is unlikely to recognize his own shortcomings in this situation. Pointing them out will not improve your case.”

Zelda groaned. “Can’t you just say you asked a knight to pretend to break rules? I bet Roam would say he did. The king would believe that, wouldn’t he?”

“There’s a chance, but I would have to ask the captain to back up our lie and hope no one else knows the truth. If we create that kind of web of falsehood, it would be legitimate grounds to be tried for treason. I do _not_ want to lose the king’s trust in that way.”

“But—”

“Then tell him the truth,” Ganondorf said over Kit. “I don’t want to sow discord for my benefit. Let the king dole out any punishment meant for Kit and Link on me. I can handle it.”

Zelda buried his face in his hands. He didn’t know how to explain to Ganondorf that the punishment his father would have for him wasn’t the kind that could be transferred to a prisoner. All his father could do was restrict Zelda to his room. It was the worst kind of torture Zelda could imagine for him, personally. He would have preferred to be whipped if it meant he could retain his personal freedom.

Impa seemed to realize Zelda’s predicament, but kept her focus on Ganondorf. “Very well then. I will explain everything tomorrow. He will likely want to meet with you after I do, so be prepared to make your case to him.”

“I will try my best to grovel convincingly.”

* * *

Late the following morning, Zelda was still in bed. He was trying to catch up on the sleep he missed from his past two late nights. The thick curtains around his canopy bed blocked out most of the sun’s light, and he easily ignored the intermittent, quiet sounds of servants going about their daily chores. He might have slept all day if his father hadn’t come.

“Zelda! Wake up, you insufferable child, and explain to me what possessed you to impersonate a knight!”

The curtains around Zelda’s bed were opened by a maid and he winced at the sudden brightness. With a groan, he sat up and pushed his hair away from his face. He let it down when he slept, so it was always a tangled mess when he woke. “I’m trying to sleep.” Despite that it was midmorning, it was still too early for him to fake pleasantries. His father usually sent for him in his study, giving him time to mentally prepare himself. Since he barged into his room unannounced, Zelda was caught completely off-guard.

“You could have slept had you stayed in bed,” the king retorted. “Cavorting with evil – is this how a princess acts?”

Zelda rolled his eyes. “It got him to talk, didn’t it?”

“Yes, all lies. You’re trying to convince me to send our knights to their deaths! And for what? A would-be demon king who will stop at nothing to dethrone me!”

“Ganondorf doesn’t want to be king! Not of Hyrule or the desert.” Zelda swung his legs out of bed.

“What proof do you have? His sword has already fled to alert his forces of Chief Saburi’s intentions.”

“My _proof_ is that he’s done nothing wrong.” Zelda walked over to his vanity to attack his tangles with a hairbrush.

“He’s destroyed irreplaceable artifacts!” the king said, following Zelda.

Zelda glared at his father in the mirror while he tugged his brush through his hair. “That was an accident.”

“Yes, because he was trying to steal an even more priceless key of our kingdom! Impa told me everything, and I say no.”

Zelda spun around. “What?”

“Even if I sent all of our knights and Sheikah agents to help all of Saburi’s warriors, the endeavor is not worth it.”

“But—”

“Do not argue with me! Every time I turn around, you’re sneaking behind my back and defaming my name.” The king held out his hands. “I’ve done _everything_ for you! And this is how you repay me? By throwing away our kingdom?”

Zelda slammed down his hairbrush on his vanity. “I’m not throwing away anything!”

“And yet your actions contradict your words.” King Cornelius took a step back. His fury burned down into black wrath. “You’ve betrayed your namesake by fraternizing with that villain and forfeited your birthright. You will _never_ take the throne. As soon as you are married, your only job will be to produce a new heir. Do I make myself clear?”

Zelda gaped at his father. “You’re serious.”

“I am.” The king rolled back his shoulders. “You are also forbidden from leaving your chambers until the wedding. If you try to escape, I will forbid Link from visiting you, and if you try to make contact with that villain again, I will have him executed for treason.”

“You can’t!”

“I can and will if you do not behave!” King Cornelius roared. “I have given you countless chances, and you’ve squandered every one. Accept this final mercy before I change my mind.”

Zelda balled his hands into fists, at a loss for words. His father did not break eye contact. He felt breathless, as if he couldn’t get enough air. Every fiber of his being wanted to punch his father’s face, to beat his chest and kick his legs, to scream he was wrong, but he couldn’t move. His body was stone. Unable to stand it any longer, Zelda abruptly turned and fell against his bed. “I hate you!”

The king merely continued staring. Through his teeth, he stated, “If that is the price to protect you and our kingdom, I will accept it.” He swept back his robes and left Zelda’s room. The door locked behind him.

Zelda buried his face into his pillows to stifle the sound of a sob.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #sorrynotsorry


	15. “He’s not our enemy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update today! Moving killed me last weekend and I still haven't finished unpacking, so I'm been super out of it lately. (Not to mention everything else going on in the world too... I'm purposely trying to avoid talking about those subjects here and on Twitter, though y'all are welcome to tell me how you're doing in the comments. I want to know how you're doing.)

Though Ganondorf had expected the king to refuse, he hadn’t expected his level of pure rage. He barely let the Gerudo get a word in edgewise through his rant. His grievances included everything from his destruction of the treasure room to incensing war and turning his knights against him. Worst of all, he promised that Ganondorf would never see ‘the knight he called Kit’ ever again, making him fear that Kit was right about the king killing him. When he finally disappeared back up the stairs, Ganondorf was left feeling like he survived a desert thunderstorm.

At noon when a knight brought him lunch, Ganondorf asked if he had any news and if he knew Kit was okay. The knight evaded the question and hurried off again, clearly eager to avoid spending any unnecessary time near him. It was after he left that Ganondorf realized how badly he fucked up by antagonizing the king so much. All of the knights seemed afraid of whatever befell Kit. If Ganondorf had behaved from the beginning, he might have had a chance to win the king over. Instead, he created a self-fulfilling prophecy. He never expected the king to help, so of course the king didn’t.

It seemed unfairly cruel, that the Goddesses could give him hope through Kit only to dash it away again. Did they hate whoever he was supposed to be so much that they had to make him suffer in this life too? Or was it just because he had stolen a piece of their greatest treasure?

While Ganondorf contemplated how things could possibly get worse, he heard tinkling glass and groaned. His head fell back against the wall.

“I’m _back_ ,” sang Ghirahim, appearing inside his cell. “How are you today, Ganny?”

Ganondorf rolled his eyes. “Awful. My helper got caught.”

“Oh, how dreadful!” Ghirahim sat down beside Ganondorf and slid up next to him. “Does that mean you’re ready to come home now?” he asked, trailing his fingers up his arm.

“I don’t know,” Ganondorf sighed, brushing Ghirahim off halfheartedly. The demon looked put out by Ganondorf’s lack of annoyance. Ganondorf stared through his cell door bars to the empty cell in front of him. “I don’t want to leave him here. The king made it sound like he’s having him executed for helping me.”

“Really?” Ghirahim leaned back with surprise. “Isn’t that a bit excessive? I’m all for punishing underlings when they deserve it, but I thought the Hylians were more merciful than that.”

“So did I.” Ganondorf continued staring straight ahead.

“Hm.” Ghirahim pursed his lips. Teleporting to his feet outside the cell, he asked, “Shall I go attempt to find your little helper? We can take him with us, if you wish.”

Ganondorf considered the offer. The last thing he wanted was to take Kit away from his home, but if it was a choice between death and being trapped with him… “I suppose you can go try.”

“What does he look like? Does he have a name?”

“He never gave me one, but he accepted to be called Kit,” Ganondorf answered, making a mental note to ask for his real name. There wasn’t a reason for the knight to hide it anymore. “He has really long, brown hair. I think it’s normally in a ponytail. Also pretty pale, grey eyes, about your height, but a lot skinner. He says he’s friends with Link, and I assume he looks like all of his namesakes.”

Ghirahim nodded. “Very well.”

Before Ghirahim could teleport away, Ganondorf added, “Don’t even think about trying to kill Link or anyone else, okay? Kit says he’s the one that made all of the extra food for me, so he’s not our enemy.”

“That so?” Ghirahim seemed amused by this revelation. “I’ll be sure to pay him my respects.”

Ganondorf was about to ask him to not, but Ghirahim vanished. With a sigh, he settled further down against the wall. He wondered if Ghirahim found it funny that the current Link didn’t despise him, considering the demon knew the very first Hero. It was a line of thought Ganondorf often mulled over, Ghirahim’s actual age. The demon had told him he had spent most of Hyrule’s history in his sword form, lying dormant in the Faron Region until the Yiga discovered him, but he had been tight-lipped about his life before then and serving Demise. He wanted Ganondorf to remember it himself.

* * *

Link was leaving lunch from the guards’ mess hall on his way to Zelda’s room when he heard the sound of tinkling glass behind him. Confused, he turned around and recoiled when he saw Ghirahim standing in the hallway. He ducked into a fighting stance and drew his sword.

“How precious!” The demon folded his hands over his heart. “The little boy thinks he can best me, Lord Ghirahim.”

Link bared his teeth with a growl, the most he could verbalize as a threat.

“What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue?” Ghirahim grinned. “Or should I say, a little fox?” Link’s fierce expression faltered. Ghirahim laughed. “Yes, you _do_ know who I’m talking about. Won’t you tell me where Kit is?”

In response, Link shouted and ran forward, swinging his sword. Ghirahim vanished in a burst of black diamonds. “Huh?” Link looked back and forth. Ghirahim laughed behind Link and he spun around, swinging again only to miss a second time.

Ghirahim teleported to sit on the windowsill, one knee propped up while his other leg hung over the edge. “Your mindless blade cannot hurt me. Your predecessor learned that the hard way, so just give up the game now. I’m not here to toy with you. And as much as I’d love to subject you to the _endless plunge_ I promised you eons ago,” he said with vehement rage before switching back to a civil tone, “my master assured me that you are not our enemy in this life.”

Link’s eyebrows knotted together, apprehensive, but did not let down his guard.

“I see you are too simple-minded to understand.” Ghirahim vanished and reappeared at Link’s side. Leaning towards his ear, he whispered, “I’ll have my rematch with you in your next life.”

Link recoiled, but Ghirahim disappeared from the hallway entirely. He searched his surroundings for a moment before he took off back to the guards’ chambers.

* * *

Ghirahim bounced around the rest of the castle, startling several guards and servants during his search for Kit. He relished their looks of terror and the way they yelped, jumped away, or scrambled for their weapons. One of his stops included the treasure room. Almost true to Ganondorf’s word, the room was significantly emptier. New, temporary beams had been ratcheted into place to bolster the burned timbers in the ceiling. Filling the space were tables draped with white cloth and covered with tools and artifacts. Two Sheikah in white coats were in the process of cleaning soot off a mechanical beetle.

“Excuse me,” Ghirahim said, “but would you kindly scurry away like filthy mongrels you are?”

The Sheikah archivists did not need to be told twice. They bolted out of the room.

“Lovely, underlings who obey authority.” Ghirahim turned to the tables. “Now, what do we have here?” He recognized the beetle and sneered at it, unwelcoming the reminder of his greatest enemy. He hardened his hand, turning it onyx-black, and slammed it on the contraption. Both it and the table broke in half. Ghirahim shook his hand off afterward, returning his skin to its usual pale, greyish tint.

Ghirahim searched the rest of the tables and the two new crates brought into the room to store the cleaned relics, but there wasn’t a single piece of ancient technology to be found. It seemed all the truly powerful items had been taken somewhere else after all.

He didn’t have much time left to look for Kit. His antics were sure to send guards to Ganondorf’s cell, and he didn’t entirely trust his master to defend his own life if it meant taking another. The only places he hadn’t checked yet were the royal chambers, unless he ventured outside the castle walls. As unlikely as they seemed, Ghirahim figured he could at least have fun terrifying the king and Hylia’s current incarnation.


	16. “You can’t take the princess, dammit!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All of your comments last week had me _rolling_ , and now I finally get to share one of my favorite chapters. I also suspect that I'll get to upload a bonus kudo chapter tomorrow, but if I don't, happy Easter to those of you who celebrate it. (I don't really, but I love the Peeps cereal and Cadbury mini eggs that come out this time of year).

When Zelda finished crying, his eyes were red and his pillow was soaked. It took all of his effort to make himself get up after his lunch was dropped off. He detangled his hair and put it back up in its usual high ponytail, but couldn’t be bothered to change out of his pajamas. He only took off his nightshirt briefly to put on his binder. It didn’t matter if he couldn’t go out anywhere. He hated looking at the shape of his boobs under his clothes, more so now that they were part of the reason for his entrapment. If he had been born male, Zelda was certain his father would not have coddled him so much.

He picked halfheartedly at the salad and sandwich left for him on a tray on the coffee table of his sitting area. Curled up in a blanket in the corner of his sofa, Zelda hoped Link would visit him soon. He desperately needed someone to vent to about his father’s new level of cruelty. Zelda had always wondered what the limit to his father’s patience would be, but he never thought he would actually reach it, especially not over something so stupid. It was obvious Ganondorf wasn’t evil. But, Zelda supposed bitterly, it was just as obvious he wasn’t a girl, and that didn’t stop his father’s stubborn blindness either.

At the sound of tinkling glass, Zelda poked his head out of his blanket cocoon. He flinched when he recognized Ghirahim standing in the middle of his room.

“Holy Farore!” Zelda moved his legs to jump off the sofa, but got caught in the blanket and tumbled onto the floor. “Ow!” He disentangled himself and scrambled back to his feet. Holding the blanket against his chest, he said, “How did you get in here?”

Ghirahim watched Zelda’s struggle with amusement, but did a double-take when he took in his appearance. His eyes narrowed. Pointing at each characteristic, he said to himself, “Long brown hair, pale, grey eyes, a little tall, rather skinny…” He cocked his head. “Are you Kit?” At the royal heir’s panicked expression, Ghirahim giggled with glee. “Oh, you are!” He clapped his hands together. “What a naughty princess!”

Zelda dropped his blanket and rushed to his rapier by his nightstand. Throwing off its sheath, he pointed the blade at Ghirahim. “Call me princess one more time and I’ll stab you.”

“Brave words for a foolish girl.”

“I’m not a girl!”

“Are you now?” Ghirahim asked. “You expect me to believe Hyrule’s princess is a _boy_?”

“Yes,” Zelda retorted. He took a step forward, jabbing his rapier at Ghirahim. “Tell me what you’re doing here.”

Ghirahim looked impishly amused by Zelda’s attempt at intimidation. “Wouldn’t you like to know, hm?”

It was the demon’s little smirk that made Zelda lose his temper. Being called a _girl_ , found when his eyes were still stinging with tears, feeling how powerless he was yet again – it was all too much. Zelda charged forward with a shout.

Ghirahim disappeared just before the point of his rapier made contact with his chest. “Close call there,” he taunted, reappearing on top of one corner of Zelda’s canopy bed. He stood with one foot behind the other, posing like a dancer. “You almost touched me.”

“Get out of my room!”

The door burst open. Knights rushed in, fanning out to surround Zelda.

“Ah, looks like my diversion didn’t last.” Ghirahim jumped down. “You’re coming with me, little lady,” he said, pulling Zelda against his chest.

“Hey!” Zelda fought against Ghirahim’s grip, but the demon turned his arms onyx. The royal heir would have had as much luck breaking free of an iron cage. “Let me go!” Ghirahim yanked away Zelda’s rapier by the blade without so much as nicking himself.

Using one hand to sling a blast of magic, Ghirahim knocked aside all of the knights. They fell back and landed on top of each other. As they struggled to right themselves in all their armor, Ghirahim darted out of Zelda’s room. They crossed Link’s path as Ghirahim went to the dungeon, but passed too quickly for the young knight to retaliate.

In the dungeon, Ghirahim knocked out the guards in front of Ganondorf’s cell with another magic blast and released Zelda. He stumbled as he fell out of his grip. The stone floor was startlingly cold under his bare feet.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Ganondorf shouted, grabbing hold of his cell door bars. “I told you to find him, not kidnap him! Did you rouse every guard in the damn castle?”

“Ganny, my master, you precious fool. Your Kit is not a knight, but the princess!” Ghirahim held his hand out towards Zelda, who folded his arms over his chest and frantically shook his head.

“What?” Eyes wide, Ganondorf turned to Kit. “Is he serious?”

“I—”

“They went down this way!” a knight called from at the top of the stairs.

“Time to go!” Ghirahim took hold of the cell door and tugged back on it, breaking it clean off its hinges. He grabbed Zelda again and threw him over his shoulder. Hurrying ahead, the demon said, “Don’t fall behind now. You wouldn’t want to leave your princess.”

“Ghirahim!” Ganondorf chased the demon down the hall. “Put him down!”

“You’ll have to make me!” Ghirahim sang, knocking aside the knights barring his way on the stairs.

“Stop!” While he ran, Ganondorf only spared a parting glance at the knights to ensure none of them were killed. Bruised and winded, clearly, but not mortally wounded. “You can’t take the princess, dammit!”

When they got up the stairs, Ganondorf recognized Link solely because of his blond hair and green tunic. He waved for him to follow. “Help me! Ghirahim’s taking Kit!”

“Oh joy, our green-garbed friend!” Ghirahim said as he bowled over another group of knights. “We’ll have the whole legendary set!”

“We’re not fucking collectables!”

Ganondorf and Link continued to chase Ghirahim as they came into the Sanctum. King Cornelius had run out onto the balcony overlooking the sacred space. “Ganondorf!” the king roared. “Release my daughter at once!”

“I’m trying!”

Ghirahim turned and ran through the Observation room. Ganondorf knew he had to be making his way to the moat bridge, but unless Ghirahim stashed horses somewhere, he didn’t see how they could continue to outrun all of the guards. Ghirahim couldn’t teleport anywhere with passengers.

Outside, they found Impa standing on the bridge. Six other Sheikah stood behind her, all wielding eightfold blades. Ghirahim attempted to knock them aside with a magic blast, but Impa twisted her fingers into a spell sign and blocked the blow with a magic barrier.

“Tch!” Ghirahim halted. “Move aside, guard dog!”

“Release Zelda,” Impa answered.

Ghirahim opened his mouth to make a retort, but made a strangled sound instead as Ganondorf caught him in a choke hold. He dropped Zelda. While the demon was distracted, Zelda got up and ran to Impa. Ghirahim reached up to grab Ganondorf’s arm and threw the larger man over himself. Link dashed over and sliced his thigh. Ghirahim screamed.

Ganondorf fell on his back with a grunt. Winded, he struggled momentarily to rise.

Ghirahim turned to Link with a look of hatred. “How _dare_ you attack me?” He snapped his fingers, making his jagged cape vanish. “I spared you and _this_ is how you repay the favor?” He held out his arms. “You never really change, do you? You mortals will never stop believing yourselves to be my equal.” With a shout, he extended his onyx skin to the rest of his body. His hair shortened to a white diamond shape. Sunlight reflected off his entire crystalline form. As he spoke, his voice became deeper and distorted. “I will not make the same mistake again.”

“No!” Ganondorf put his arms around Ghirahim and held him from behind. “Leave him alone!”

“Stop interfering!” Ghirahim broke Ganondorf’s grip. Spinning around, he struck the Gerudo in the chest with an open hand. Ganondorf went flying backwards towards Impa and Zelda. The two of them barely got out of the way before Ganondorf landed where they stood. Ganondorf did not rise again.

Link readied his sword and shield.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All I can think of every single time I reread that chase scene is the time my dog stole a pair of dirty undies from my hamper and ran around the house with them. The only one who really enjoyed that "game" was my silly pupper, and Ghirahim is _exactly_ like that with Kit here. (Not that Kit is underwear, but like, a thing that isn't supposed to get taken out of where it's supposed to be. lol)


	17. “I will not fail you again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I've finally found the breakthrough I needed to make progress on this fic's sequel, so cross your fingers that I can keep this momentum going. Even though I currently like how this fic ends, there are so many loose ends that I just really want to properly tie off. (I mean, I _could_ leave those things to readers' imaginations as most authors do, but I personally want to see them through.)

Ghirahim walked towards Link. The young knight hesitated only a moment before he ran forward. He slashed at the demon’s chest, but his blade clanged against his diamond-hard skin. Link raised his arm to strike again. Ghirahim grabbed his blade and yanked it out of his grip. He flung it into the air, sending it flying into the moat with a distant splash. Link put up his shield just before Ghirahim struck him with the back of his hand. The force of a siege hammer knocked Link backwards. Unhurriedly, Ghirahim stepped forward to finish him.

“Stop!” Zelda shouted, throwing a fireball at the demon. Impa put up a magic barrier in front of Link at the same time.

The blaze engulfed Ghirahim’s body and he recoiled. “Excuse you!” He swept the flames off of himself, extinguishing them. His glare turned to the royal heir, seeming more offended than hurt. “I’m busy enacting my revenge.”

“You can’t kill him,” Zelda answered. His heart was racing as much as his mind, struggling to think of a persuasive reason. “He… He’s unarmed!”

Ghirahim shifted his weight to one hip and rested his knuckles on top. “Petty excuses will not save your hero, Princess.”

“But aren’t you a lord?” Zelda stood up straighter. He attempted to channel his father’s sense of regal authority, though the effect was diminished by his pajamas and tangled hair. “You and I both know this is uncivil.”

“He started it,” Ghirahim retorted, pointing to Link. The knight shakily stood back up and seemed to barely have the strength to lift his shield.

“He barely even scratched you! I thought you were an honorable fighter. Has your absence turned you into a brute?”

“No!” Ghirahim stomped his foot. “I am not a brute.”

“Then give him a fair fight.” Zelda put his hands on his hips. “He doesn’t even have the master sword, and you came at him with your full power?”

“He—”

“Leave the boy be,” Ganondorf said hoarsely, straining himself to sit up beside Zelda and Impa. All of his ribs felt bruised, and he was pretty sure at least one of them was cracked or broken. “You’ve already proven your point. Look around, Ghirahim.” He gestured to the line of knights who had gathered on the side of the castle and then to the Sheikah on the bridge. The king stood on the castle balcony overlooking the spectacle. “We all see that you curb-stomped us. What more do you need to do?”

“Hrnm…” Ghirahim grit his teeth, looking at each of the onlookers. “Very well.” He flicked his hands as if shaking off mud. The onyx coating his skin receded. With a snap of his fingers, his cape returned. “You’ve taken the fun out of this game.” He swept his bangs to the side.

Addressing the onlookers, Ghirahim said, “Let be known that I, Lord Ghirahim spared your worthless little lives today. The next time you raise your arms against me, I will not be so merciful.” His last words were directed at the king, and he smirked at his look of indignation. Ghirahim teleported in front of Ganondorf and bowed. His arms folded in front and behind himself with a flourish. “Let us be off now, Ganny.”

“Just us?” Ganondorf forced himself to rise. It was a wonder Ghirahim didn’t accidentally kill him, as it hurt his chest even more to get to his feet.

“If you insist,” Ghirahim answered, straightening himself. He looked sidelong at Zelda. “I was rather fond of the idea of getting to know your little Kit, however.”

Pressing his lips into a thin line, Ganondorf sighed through his nose. “I do insist,” he said, glancing at Kit—Zelda—with an apologetic look. Both he and Impa were facing him with concerned expressions. “I’m sorry about all this.”

“It’s okay,” Zelda said. “I just wish…” He trailed off. No one else needed to know how much he had hoped to free Ganondorf. He was almost just as sorry he wasn’t leaving with them.

“We both knew it would never work.” It was difficult for Ganondorf to think of Kit as Hyrule’s princess. In spite of everything proving it to be the case, Ganondorf still saw him as the lanky boy who brought him treats. He was nothing like how he had imagined the heir of his mothers’ enemy. He had pictured a dainty damsel, a doll more than a person, someone just as arrogant as the king. Instead he had met a friend just as trapped as he.

Ganondorf looked back up at King Cornelius, who was watching the exchange with an expression of bewildered resentment. “Pass on my apologies to the king,” he said, looking at Impa. “He can rest assured I will not be returning to a lap of luxury.”

Impa nodded, solemn. Standing aside, she motioned for her Sheikah agents to part for Ganondorf and Ghirahim.

Since Ghirahim gestured for Ganondorf to go first, the Gerudo started down the bridge. He noticed two travelers standing at the end and realized Yiga members had been watching the entire spectacle as well. The disguised Yiga met Ganondorf halfway and each took one of his arms. Together, they did the spell sign to teleport the three of them with a puff of purple smoke back to Karusa Valley. Ghirahim teleported after them with a burst of his black diamonds.

* * *

Once Ganondorf and Ghirahim were gone with the travelers, King Cornelius called, “Knights, escort my daughter back to her room. Impa, I require you in my study immediately.” He turned and strode off the balcony back into the castle.

Reluctantly, Zelda gave Impa a parting glance before heading towards Link. “Are you okay?”

 _“Arm hurts, but I’m okay,”_ Link shakily signed. He put his shield back onto his back and fell into step beside Zelda. _“You?”_ His sheath hung empty as they returned to his rooms.

Zelda swallowed hard. “Fine physically.” He looked back over his shoulder at the bridge. He sighed with a pained expression of longing.

Link followed his gaze and understood immediately all that Zelda had left unsaid in the past forty-eight hours. He regarded his fiancé with sympathy. _“We will talk in your room.”_

Zelda turned back to the castle doors and nodded mutely.

As soon as the two of them returned to the sitting area in Zelda’s room, Zelda picked up his discarded blanket and wrapped it around his shoulders. Link picked up Zelda’s rapier and returned it to its sheath by Zelda’s bed. While Zelda curled up in the corner of his sofa, Link walked back to the side chair and sat down.

 _“So…”_ Link started to sign by lifting his palms _,_ but he dropped his hands again as he debated if he wanted the gesture to mean its synonym “what” instead.

“I was head over heels the second I saw him.” Zelda scooted deeper into his blanket, pulling it over his head. He left a little hole to keep Link in sight.

Link made a tight-lipped expression that said, _“That explains a lot.”_ He sighed and faced the floor.

“He realized I liked him after I gave him all that food we made.”

 _“I made,”_ Link corrected.

“Fine, you made.” Zelda rolled his eyes. Link gave him a small, teasing smile in return. Zelda looked down at his knees and picked lint off his blanket. “I didn’t get a chance to ask if he liked me back. It doesn’t matter though. Everything fell apart because my father freaked out.”

Link nodded, becoming pensive. _“Think king will rethink decision now?”_

“I have no idea.” Zelda shuddered as he recalled how close Ghirahim had come to kidnapping him and murdering Link. Ghirahim had turned on Link so quickly, knocked aside all of the knights so easily, and captured and released him so carelessly. More than the demon’s raw power, it was his unpredictability that scared Zelda. It felt like sheer luck that he and Ganondorf had talked down Ghirahim.

Zelda didn’t know what they would do if Ghirahim returned to the castle. He and Ganondorf didn’t get the Sheikah slate, so that if was bound to be a when. Impa and his father were surely discussing how to prepare for that inevitability. Zelda wished he could have been in his father’s study with them. No matter what his father assumed, Zelda did care about the interests of their people.

Link tapped Zelda’s leg to get his attention. _“Talk to me. I can’t read your mind.”_

Zelda sighed. “I don’t know what there is to say that isn’t obvious. My father will want to do something about Ghirahim, but all of us were completely powerless against him. If our knights couldn’t stop one demon, how are they supposed to handle an entire clan of magic ninjas in an impenetrable fortress?” He drew his blanket tighter around himself. “My father was right. It was a stupid idea from the start.”

Link nodded again. _“We can still help Ganondorf and his sister.”_

“How? My father isn’t going to send anyone to the desert.”

 _“No knights. Impa must have the Sheikah slate and other items from treasure room. There is a shrine_ inside _their hideout.”_ He emphasized his point by raising his eyebrows and stressing his hands. _“If Impa travels there, she could sneak in and sneak out with them in one day.”_

Zelda’s eyes widened. “Are you serious?”

_“It was in the books we read. Your great-grandfather broke into their base twice. I don’t think Impa really planned to send all knights and Sheikah. She would know just one person could work.”_

“But who would she send?” Zelda asked, sitting forward. His blanket slipped off behind his head. “The king would never let her leave the castle.”

 _“One of her agents, probably, if she can’t go.”_ Link paused, looking thoughtful as he reconsidered his idea. He bit his lip. _“But king won’t want to send them either. Chance of getting caught and killed is high. They’re too valuable to lose.”_

Zelda frowned. It was all true, though he didn’t like it. He rested his elbows on his knees and his chin on his hands. “If I went…”

Link’s eyes widened and he immediately shook his head. _“You crazy?”_

“They wouldn’t kill me if I got caught.”

_“But—”_

“I know I’m the damn princess, but my father’s already told me I won’t take the throne after we get married.”

Link leaned back, startled.

“Yeah, he was that pissed I was ‘cavorting with evil,’” Zelda said with air quotes. “So, frankly, if my only job here is to make babies, I’d rather go join Ganondorf.” He gestured to the empty space beside him on the sofa, where Link had placed his marker again.

Blowing out a breath of air, Link held his forehead. His eyes seemed to search the floor for words. He faced Zelda again and signed, _“What about me? You leave me here?”_

“I…” Link’s injured expression made Zelda falter. “I don’t want to.” He pulled back up his knees and wrapped his arms around them. Really, he wasn’t sure that he would have been better off in the Yiga hideout. “I just don’t know what else to do. If my father won’t change his mind, I can’t stay here. I won’t be made into nothing more than a consort.”

Link struggled to form a response. “Argh!” He mimed crushing something before dropping his hands. With a huff, he then signed, _“Need to talk to Impa.”_ His hands remained up for a moment, contemplating saying something else, but he let them fall.

“If she doesn’t come here after she talks to my father, you’ll need to go get her for me.”

 _“I will.”_ Link signed without looking up. His expression had become stony. _“I will not fail you again.”_

Zelda’s shoulders fell. He mentally cursed as he realized Link was blaming himself for this fiasco. He put his feet back onto the floor and sat forward. “Link, you didn’t fail me.”

 _“You stopped Ghirahim from killing me.”_ His hands slowed, articulating each word mechanically. His eyes continued avoiding Zelda’s. _“It’s my job to protect you.”_

“Link…” Zelda got up from the sofa and knelt down in front of him. “You’re more to me than just a bodyguard. I don’t care that you couldn’t beat him.”

 _“If I could have spoken…”_ Link inhaled sharply and bit his lip.

“No, don’t think like that.” Zelda hugged Link. “It wouldn’t have mattered if you could speak. Ghirahim wouldn’t have listened to you anyway.” Zelda pulled away to give space for him to sign again.

_“I would have wanted to try anyway.”_

“I know.” Zelda hugged Link again because he looked close to tears. “I know. It’s okay. We made it through today and we’ll do it again if we need to, so let it out. We’re safe now.”

Link’s arms fell around Zelda and his fingers gripped his back. A broken sob escaped him before he buried his face in Zelda’s shoulder. His tears dampened Zelda’s shirt. He silently continued crying, gasping for breath every few moments. All the fear he had been holding back mixed with his relief of being alive, overwhelming him.

Zelda rubbed Link’s back. His body shook under Zelda’s hands. “I’m here,” he murmured, scooting up next to Link on the side chair. “I’m right here.”


	18. “You dare backtalk to your mothers?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, everybody. Here is the bonus kudo chapter. I don't really do trigger warnings, but I figure I should let you all know that we're meeting Gan's mothers now. They are... a lot. So if you thought the king was difficult to deal with, be prepared for worse. I've written more about my reasons for writing them the way I did in the notes after this chapter.

Ganondorf’s heart rate picked up as soon as the Yiga members deposited him in his mothers’ receiving room. It was lit by purple flames floating in paper lanterns. Thick tapestries and sparkling silks hung from the round, stone walls, and an ornate rug was spread in the center. Ganondorf’s mothers were seated on a raised platform at the back of the cavernous, underground space on tasseled floor cushions. On either side of them stood frog-like statues with Yiga masks. Behind them on a silk screen was the Yiga Clan’s symbol, the upside down copy of the Sheikah’s crying eye.

A shadowy haze hung in the air, clotted with the incense of patchouli, frankincense, and something fetid. The smell almost always caused Ganondorf an anxious feeling of déjà vu. His body went tense, making him exhausted and keyed up at the same time. It felt like he had fought several times already despite having not even started yet. Whenever this instinctive dread struck, his left hand ached and intrusive thoughts about dying haunted his mind. Right now, he couldn’t get out the feeling of a gaping hole tearing open in his throat.

Ganondorf swallowed back the feeling as he knelt down onto one knee. Folding one arm over his leg, he rested his fist on the floor. He inclined his head and prayed that whatever his mothers had to say would be quick. It was too much to ask for it to be painless. The sound of glass echoed behind him, indicating Ghirahim’s arrival. Unlike the Gerudo, the demon was allowed to stand without reproach.

“Speak, Ghirahim,” Koume ordered. The sorceress of flame wore a gold headpiece with a large ruby in its center over her bushy grey hair. Her sister, Kotake, the sorceress of ice wore a matching headpiece with a large sapphire. Their black silk clothes were identical except for their crimson and azure accents. Both of them had dark skin with a sickly green undertone and long, sharp noses. The heavy makeup they wore did little to deemphasize their deep nasolabial lines and crows’ feet.

“Of course, Mesdames,” Ghirahim said with a bow. “Our return was delayed because Ganny wanted me to find his little helper. Little did he know, it was the princess all along.” He explained the morning’s events and updated them about the status of the treasure room. As he finished, he said, “I believe Ganny may have told the princess more than he should, for she seemed to pity him unreasonably so.”

“Stop calling him a she,” Ganondorf growled. He knew speaking out of turn would hurt, but they were going to lash out at him regardless. He could at least make his punishment worth something. “Kit—Zelda—told me he’s not a girl.”

Ghirahim laughed. “Don’t tell me you’re still humoring her game of play-pretend.”

“It’s not pretend.” Ganondorf tightened his fists. “I don’t care what you do to me, but don’t disrespect him like that.”

“Ugh.” Ghirahim waved his hand as if fanning away a foul smell. “Would you listen to this?” he said, facing the twins. “He knew her for hardly two days! And yet he’s spellbound already.” He looked back over at Ganondorf. “You’re best to leave the sentimental pining for Link, Ganny.”

Ganondorf bit his tongue, knowing Ghirahim was just goading him at this point.

“He’s right, you know,” Koume said, raising from her seat.

“If you want something…” Kotake continued, mirroring her sister.

“You take it!” Koume created a whip of fire and stuck Ganondorf’s back and shoulder.

Crying out, Ganondorf grimaced. It burned through his already singed cloak and left a long, red welt along his exposed skin.

Koume kept a flame lit in her palm. “Did you really think Hyrule’s princess could _save_ you?” she asked, curling her lip in disdain.

Kotake smirked. “Or even want to?” She raised a hand and summoned floating shards of ice. “Don’t make us laugh!” She flung the shards at Ganondorf, embedding them in his flesh. The skin around the points froze into dark bruises.

“She was using you!” Koume shouted, striking Ganondorf with her whip again. It sizzled against a swath of ice, melting the shards.

Ganondorf grit his teeth, failing to choke back a whimper. Blood dripped down his arms and back from the thawed wounds. He did not move from his position. Fighting back only made it last longer.

“Tell us what she knows, boy.” Kotake flicked her wrist.

Ganondorf jerked back just before a spear of ice erupted out of the floor. Its point ended where his neck had been. His breathing became short, shallow, even as inexplicable relief filled him from the near miss. He met his mothers’ gaze with wide eyes. Koume glared at him while Kotake leered. Digging his nails into his palm, Ganondorf took a deep breath and exhaled. Steeling his expression, he said, “I only told _him_ how much of a bitch you two are.”

Ganondorf could only relish their scandalized looks for a moment before both of them retaliated. Two ice spears shot into his upper arms, lifting him off his feet. A fire whip lashed around his neck, jerking his head forward.

“You dare backtalk to your mothers?” Koume seethed, tightening the whip around his throat.

“We raised you better than that!”

“Oh, you’ve done it now, Ganny.” Ghirahim snickered as he leaned against the wall, enjoying Ganondorf’s audacity and how it riled up Twinrova. He liked his master best whenever he was belligerent.

Ganondorf struggled to breathe while the burning whip crackled and sparked, blistering his skin and scorching his hair, stubble, and cloak. His arms went numb. The tips of the ice spears hit bone and froze the surrounding flesh. He scrabbled for purchase on the spears with his feet, trying to dislodge himself, but his thin-soled shoes could not grip the ice.

“Just because you spent a little time outside the desert, you think you can defy us?” Koume released her whip from his throat to strike the side of his face. He winced as his vision blurred.

“Think again!” Kotake discharged a volley of hail, shredding his chest and pants with hundreds of cuts.

When the volley ended, Ganondorf panted as he hung his head. His hair slipped over his ears and curtained his face. He felt faint from the agony racking his body. Every stinging cut, blistering burn, and sore bruise throbbed with his pounding heart. It was impossible to tune out the pain entirely, but he survived this time. It wouldn’t be long until he could pass out, he reassured himself. He just had to bear it just a little bit longer.

Kotake shattered the ice spears. Ganondorf fell to his feet before collapsing onto the floor.

“We will have Ganon’s power,” Koume hissed.

“And your petty insolence will mean nothing,” Kotake said.

Koume struck him one final time, crossing the first line she left on his back. He didn’t even flinch. She looked back at Ghirahim. “Take him to his room and have Nabooru attend to him. When she’s finished, send her back to us.” She settled back down onto her cushion. “We will teach him to be more choosey with the whims of his heart.”

Kotake followed suit, sitting beside her sister. “He cannot have both Nabooru and the princess.”

“Understood, Mesdames.” Ghirahim bowed before lifting his hand toward Ganondorf. The Gerudo floated limply into the air, facedown like a drowned man. The demon waved him through the darkened doorway behind them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Full disclosure: I put a lot of my own mom into Koume and Kotake's characterization, as well as into the king's. She has paranoid schizophrenia. It affects her memory and makes her believe terrible, horrifying things have happened to us, that she was some kind of important super genius, and that "criminals" are constantly out to get us. While my mom was never physically abusive like Twinrova, her mental illness causes her to be hurtful in ways that she would not have been had she been mentally healthy/willing to admit her faults.
> 
> Writing Twinrova (and the king) was sort of my way to continue working through my problematic relationship with my mom at an emotionally safe distance. There were times while writing this that I wanted to go deeper/more detailed into the things I imagine Twinrova did/do to Gan, namely in the ways that they emotionally manipulate him, but I couldn't bring myself to go that far in those scenes. I focus on their physical abuse instead because it's easier. If you turn a real, hurt person into just an evil caricature, it doesn't hurt so much to hate them.
> 
> If any of you are in a similar situation and feel alone, feel free to reach out to me. I talk so openly about my issues with my mom because I want to spread awareness and find others who understand.
> 
> If you were just here for the fic and find this stuff depressing, it's fine to ignore it. At the end of the day, no matter their inspiration, my villains are their own characters. You can say whatever you want about them. This fic was written for me first and to be entertaining second - if it does help anyone in other ways, that's just a bonus.


	19. “Vaati, I need your help.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heavy stuff last update, but hey! We finally get to meet our last main characters!

“Gan!” Nabooru rushed to her brother’s side as Ghirahim dropped him onto the handwoven rug in the middle of her room. The curly-haired Gerudo had been pacing the modest space ever since a Yiga foot soldier notified her of Ganondorf’s return. Despite knowing it was pointless, she had been driving herself mad trying to anticipate how Twinrova would punish him. Maiming her younger brother with their ice and fire spells was assumed, but that wasn’t part of their real punishments. They just liked abusing their magic. The ‘lessons’ they devised were always new challenges to test his limits, and they usually placed her in peril to serve as motivation.

“He had the gall to backtalk the twins,” Ghirahim said, by way of explanation for the severity of Ganondorf’s injuries. He was still pleased by his master’s rebellion, both in Twinrova’s rooms and back at the castle, as he took it as a sign that Demise was getting closer to outgrowing his boyish form. It wouldn’t be long before he properly usurped their role over the Yiga Clan and took the rest of the land.

“ _Sa’oten_ ,” Nabooru breathed, horrified. She removed her brother’s cloak and surveyed all of his injuries. His arms were the worst – both of his biceps were deeply wounded and frostbitten. Potent magic would be required to reverse the damage, but it was far beyond her current capabilities.

Ghirahim summoned bottles of hearty and energizing elixir from the Yiga’s storeroom to his hand and put them down on her dresser. “You should save some of these for yourself when you are done with him,” he said, turning on his heel to leave. “The twins want you in their room as soon as you’re finished.”

Nabooru didn’t acknowledge the elixirs or his advice, though she heard him. The door clicked shut when he was gone. Her attention remained on Ganondorf. “Oh, _éskazhanto-mak_ …” She pulled back her red curls away from her face. “They’re going to cripple you one day.” Nabooru looked up at her dresser. On it was a vase of electric safflina beside a sandalwood jewelry box and a few perfume bottles, but her attention was on a tiny, mouse-like person with a purple sock cap. “Vaati, I need your help.”

The Minish sorcerer was already standing at attention on the edge of her dresser. Like most of his diminutive race, he was no bigger than her thumb and had a feather-like tail poking out of his purple tunic. He also had red eyes and lavender hair, which he claimed was unusual for his race, but Nabooru and Ganondorf had never seen another Minish to make a comparison. Vaati only ended up living in the desert with the Gerudo heirs because an experiment with his teacher Ezlo went horribly wrong.

“Coming!” Vaati jumped down from the dresser and transformed into a Hylian child, though his coloring remained the same. He winced as he got a better look at Ganondorf. “Ouch, they kind of went overboard, huh?” Kneeling beside him, he held his hands over one of Ganondorf’s arms. White light glowed from his palms. Ganondorf’s frostbitten skin slowly returned to its normal, sunshroom hue.

While Vaati worked on the worst injuries, Nabooru began closing the countless cuts across the rest of Ganondorf’s body. Twinrova believed she picked up her healing abilities on her own, but it was really Vaati who brought out her latent gift and taught her everything she knew. None of the Yiga knew he had been secretly living in their base almost as long as the Gerudo siblings. He was completely invisible to all adults, as all Minish were, and it was by choice that he made himself visible to Nabooru and Ganondorf now that they were grown.

When they had healed most of his wounds, Ganondorf woke with a groan. He lifted up his head and smiled tiredly when he saw his sister. “Hey. I’m home.”

“You stupid _vehvi_ ,” Nabooru said, hugging him around his neck. “Why were you gone so long?”

Ganondorf sat up and hugged her back with one arm. He pressed his face into her curly hair, breathing deeply in the calming scent of her lemongrass shampoo. “I’m sorry. I let myself get caught by the castle’s guards.”

Vaati scowled at Ganondorf. “That was dumb. Did you think being their prisoner would be better than the Yiga’s?” Even standing in his Hylian child form while Ganondorf was seated, the top of his sock-capped head barely reached his shoulders.

“No.” Ganondorf shook his head and brushed back his mane of hair. Singed bits fell out as he combed his fingers through it. “I just didn’t think I could get out without killing anyone.” He explained how he accidentally set off a bomb in the treasure room and summarized his first meeting with Impa and the king. “As stupid as it sounds, it was actually kind of nice, being there. I didn’t think I was going to die even once. It was fun acting like a little shit, but then Kit came along and…” He sighed. “Shit, where do I even begin?”

Nabooru and Vaati shared a glance at each other. Sitting on her knees, Nabooru said, “Just start with who they are?”

“Well, that’s the thing,” Ganondorf said. “I _thought_ he was just a knight in training, but then Ghirahim somehow figured out that he’s actually the princess.”

Vaati frowned at him, confused. “If he’s the princess, why are you still saying he’s a he?”

“Because I thought he was a girl too, but he freaked the fuck out when I asked.”

“Weird, but okay.” Vaati shrugged. “Not the first time a princess has pretended to be something they’re not.”

“Like when she was Sheik?” Nabooru asked, remembering the stories Vaati often told them when they were younger. The Minish sorcerer learned about Hyrule’s history and its branching timelines because he and Ezlo had spent a few decades researching temporal scrying technology in between their work on Ezlo’s other inventions. It was when they tried to move from scrying into building a teleportation portal that Vaati ended up flung far into the future.

“It wasn’t just a disguise,” Ganondorf said. “He said specifically that he was ‘a boy that was supposed to have been a girl.’”

Nabooru’s confusion became concern. “Does that mean he’s only a princess because the king wants him to be one?”

Ganondorf sighed. “I don’t know. Maybe.” Kit definitely had feminine features, but he didn’t want to assume anything.

Thoughtful, Nabooru said, “I suppose he’s not so strange then.”

“It wouldn’t have been weird regardless considering me,” Ganondorf said, resting his elbows on his knees. “Neither of us want to be like our predecessors.” He went on to explain how Kit came to his cell and everything they told each other. “If I had known he was the princess, I wouldn’t have ever asked Ghirahim to look for him.”

“You still managed to escape without anyone dying, though,” Nabooru reminded him.

“For now, anyway,” Vaati said. “Ganondorf may not have gotten what they sent him for, but he proved without a doubt that the castle is defenseless against Ghirahim. Link is not nearly the threat the castle has likened him to be, and that will embolden Twinrova’s plans.”

Nabooru frowned, worried. “You don’t think they would attack the castle directly, do you?”

“No, but they’ll definitely have Ghirahim go back for Kit.” Vaati looked away and folded his arms. Subdued, he continued, “Both he and I have used past princesses for evil purposes. Hylia’s soul, her Light Force, is incredibly powerful.” He faced Ganondorf again. “If Demise truly isn’t alive in you, Ghirahim might be able to use Kit to revive him again.”

“Fuck.” Ganondorf faced the ground, horrified by the possibility.

“If that is true,” Nabooru said, “why did Ghirahim leave Kit at the castle instead of take him anyway?”

“I asked him to leave him behind,” Ganondorf answered, “and it wouldn’t have been in our mothers’ orders to bring Kit anyway. He came back for me, not anything else.”

“So it’s really just a matter of time before they make arrangements to try.” Vaati glanced at the door. “I can try to find out when it would be, but…” He trailed off, knowing that having a date wouldn’t help them. It was moments like this that made him wish Ezlo made a second mage’s cap. After the Hero of his time defeated him and gave the cap to the Princess, her wish of peace in Hyrule made the cap disappear and removed the dark power that had grown in the Minish’s heart.

“You’re better off going to find Kit,” Ganondorf said. “You need to warn him and Impa and make sure Link gets the master sword.”

“Me? I can’t cross the desert by myself!” Vaati stepped back, looking more like a child as his expression became fearful. “I’d get eaten by a lizalfos before I’d even make it to the bazaar.”

“But you’re a sorcerer!” Ganondorf argued. “Just—”

Nabooru shushed both of them as she heard the door unlock. Vaati reverted to his Minish form, but remained where he stood. A foot soldier named Jarek poked his head into the room, wearing his mask on the side of his head as usual, despite that it was against uniform regulation. He had a dark complexion like the Hylians in Lurelin Village and red Sheikah eyes. Despite being one of the newer members of the clan, he was currently the main errand boy and messenger within the hideout.

“Good, he’s awake.” Jarek beckoned Nabooru to leave. “Your mothers are getting impatient.”

Dread filled Ganondorf. “But she’s not done healing me.”

“You sounded pretty chatty before I opened the door.” Jarek smirked. “Having a sibling fight?”

Nabooru held up her hand to stem Ganondorf’s stalling and got to her feet. “You know they don’t like waiting.” She faced Ganondorf again. “Good luck _, éskazhanto-mak_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now that we've finally met Vaati and Nabooru, what are your first impressions of them? Were you expecting something different?
> 
> Vaati was the character I personally hadn't planned on including at all until I realized Gan and Nab needed a good influence in their life. (You couldn't honestly have believed Gan ended up as well-adjusted as he is without some outside help, did you?) There were other ways I could have given them some sort of protector, but I adore Minish and little Vaati too much to have wasted the opportunity. That, and Vaati just doesn't get enough love period, especially his Minish version.


	20. “You ask a lot of questions for a minion.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gah! I forgot to post the update today! Sorry this is late, and extra apologies for it being short. (I was thinking of cutting this chapter or reworking parts of it back into the previous chapter, but I guess that isn't going to happen now.)

“I better finish fixing you up,” Vaati said, returning to his Hylian form after Nabooru left with the foot soldier. “It won’t be long now before they fetch you for your ‘lesson.’”

“I would rather figure out how to get a message to Kit.” Ganondorf pushed his fingers through his hair and leaned forward onto his elbow. Looking sidelong at the Minish, he asked, “Are you sure you can’t even try?”

Vaati walked around Ganondorf and held his hand over the many shallow cuts on the Gerudo’s chest. While his palm glowed white, he said, “Assuming I could even make it past the Highlands and somehow get a horse, it’s a four-day trip minimum to get to the castle. Without one, it would be even longer. I don’t want to leave you for that long, especially if your mothers continue to abuse you like they did today.”

“Can’t you teleport?” Ganondorf leaned back on his hands to give Vaati better access to the rest of his minor injuries.

“Not like Ghirahim.” Vaati moved his attention to Ganondorf’s legs, repairing both his skin and the fabric of his loose pants.

“I know, but the Yiga’s way could at least get you there faster.”

All of the Yiga were trained how to recall themselves back to special points inside the hideout. It got the most use as a way to escape with their lives whenever they were defeated, but it worked to instantly get them home for any situation. During combat, they could also flash-jump to points within their line of sight to get behind their enemies. Vaati had learned all of their spells by sneaking into their lessons.

“I would drain all of my energy within a day if I tried to flash-jump the entire way to the castle.”

“Well, could you modify the recall spell to take you to the castle instead?”

Vaati paused as he considered it. “Potentially, but…” He shook his head. “No, it’s too risky. The castle I remember is likely nothing like the castle of today. If I tried to teleport there directly, I could end up inside a wall or somewhere else entirely.”

Ganondorf groaned, letting his head fall back. “There has to be another way.” He sat forward again. “Is it possible to just try sending them a letter at least?”

“Again, maybe, but I’d need to think more on it and work out how such a spell would work.” He looked towards Nabooru’s dresser, where his rooms were hidden.

“Then do what you can to figure something out.” Ganondorf rose to his feet, picking up the burned and tattered remains of his cloak. It had already looked worse for wear after his fiasco in the treasure room, but the sight of it now was just disappointing. He loosely folded it over his arm and set it down on Nabooru’s desk. She and Vaati would be able to repair it eventually. Right now he wanted to clean off all the blood, soot, and grime of a full week spent imprisoned in a damp dungeon with smelly straw.

As Vaati returned to his Minish form and scurried off behind Nabooru’s dresser, Ganondorf went through the doorway into the bathroom that connected his bedroom to Nabooru’s. Unique to the Yiga Clan’s hideout, they had running hot and cold water, available through both the sink faucets and the bathtub. It was a bitter luxury. When his mothers reunified the declining group of thieves, they brought with them their research on ancient Sheikah technology. They renovated the entire base and marketed their amenities to recruit new members. Who could deny the leadership of a duo who could offer limitless fresh water in a place as harsh as the desert?

When Ganondorf came out of the bathroom, he was clean-shaven. Water dripped down his chest and back from his thick hair. The same foot soldier who fetched Nabooru earlier was waiting for him in his room.

“Sure took your sweet time in there,” Jarek said, sitting on the edge of Ganondorf’s desk.

Ganondorf gave the foot soldier a deadpan look, unconcerned at being caught in just a towel. “Yeah. Takes a while to wash burnt hair.” He went to his dresser and took out a pair of teal pants and one of his matching voe spaulder sleeves. After returning to the bathroom to get dressed, he came back out to belt on his tassets and the spaulder for over his shoulder.

Jarek watched Ganondorf don his armor with a bored expression, though his gaze lingered on his left hand. “Is that thing even real?” The triangle symbol looked like a patch of bleached skin.

“Hm?” Ganondorf looked sidelong at the foot soldier as he sat down on the edge of his bed.

“Your Triforce mark. We’re all told you’re the real deal, but none of us have ever seen you use magic.”

“That’s because I can’t.” Ganondorf bent forward to slip on his shoes and greaves.

“Lame.” Jarek tapped his heels against Ganondorf’s desk drawers. “So did Twinrova just tattoo that thing on you? You make a great show in the arena, but I heard the castle caught you super easily. Everybody’s arguing about why that is.”

Ganondorf glanced back up as he slipped on his second shoe. “You ask a lot of questions for a minion.”

Jarek shrugged. “I joined for the free food, hot showers, and ninja training. I don’t care if you’re some demigod or just a sham, but I got money on the latter.”

“The mark is real, but I don’t think I’m the guy they want.” Ganondorf stood back up and slipped on his vambraces.

“How do you know?”

Ganondorf slung his twin blades onto his back. On his way to the door, he looked back over his shoulder at the foot soldier. Holding up his left hand, he said, “I got this in the Sacred Realm.”

Jarek scoffed, smirking. “Sure you did.”

Ganondorf rolled his eyes. “Can you just get out of my room now?” He opened the door and gestured for him to leave.

“Fine, fine.” Jarek got off Ganondorf’s desk and walked out.

Ganondorf watched him go down the hall. He lingered a moment longer before he turned in the opposite direction. He didn’t care if a newbie minion didn’t believe him. He actually preferred it over the sniveling idolization inbred Yiga members had for him. They acted like it had been his choice to be thrust into a bizarre dream world, as if he had conquered demons rather than just stumbled around lost in a quiet, crystalline forest. He didn’t really remember finding the Triforce. It could have been part of the nature of the place, but it was more likely because he had been barely four years old. All he knew was that when he came out, his mothers congratulated him on getting the Triforce of Power and immediately stabbed him. He still had a faint scar in the center of his chest from their attempt to release Ganon that day.

Ganondorf shook himself out of his reverie as he came to the double doors leading into his mothers’ arena. When he pushed them open, the way ahead was shrouded in darkness.

“Great, a blind challenge.” He sighed and walked into the wall of shadow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The big reveal where we learn Gan got his Triforce from the Sacred Realm was something I was thinking of pushing to a later chapter, because it does come up again later, but I never did figure out a better way to parse out this scene.
> 
> Also! I got fan art of Jarek! [Check out KRDraws' drawing on their Twitter here](https://twitter.com/KR95923481/status/1274166288403755008)
> 
> 6/28/2020 Update: If you're interested in seeing baby Gan actually in the Sacred Realm, I wrote a ficlet about it. You can read it here: [Welcome to the Sacred Realm](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24933886)  
> This ficlet was going to be the prologue for book 2, but I decided against using Veran as the main villain and thus had no reason to keep it (the ficlet is told from her POV).


	21. “You cannot ignore your namesake’s history.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, everyone! Another short chapter today, but hey, we get to see Kit and Link again.
> 
> As for an update on my life, I've finally unpacked everything that goes on my desk and a lot of my other knickknacks, so my new room finally feels more like _my_ room and not just some space I'm inhabiting. Working from home is kind of kicking my butt, though. I'm awful at setting my own schedules (yay ADHD), so it's been a struggle to actually get done the weekly tasks I'm being given.
> 
> Most of my time is being devoted to working on this fic's sequel and making minute edits on this story. (And I actually may go back and alter that last update I wasn't happy with, but I'll let y'all know if I do make any significant changes.) I kind of want to go back to once-weekly updates so my buffer can last longer, but since we're all still stuck at home, I'm reluctant to take away the little bit of help I can offer.
> 
> What are your thoughts?
> 
> Ultimately, I just want to keep getting feedback on this story, like any other writer here. You, my readers make being a writer truly rewarding. Knowing that I can connect with you through my characters is priceless. I share so much of myself on this site, so I really appreciate it any time you can share just a bit about your experience. Even if it's just a little <3 or quip about a character, it shows you're still here.

Link and Zelda sat down at their usual places on the side chair and sofa in Zelda’s sitting area. They had opened the windows in his room, letting a warm morning breeze pass through. It was all Zelda could do to lessen the stifling feeling of being trapped like a fairy in a bottle.

Impa came in just as a servant dropped off a cart with tea and cookies. As the servant left, Impa poured the tea for them and passed Link and Zelda each a cup. “There isn’t much I can say,” she said, sitting down on the other end of the sofa. “The king is willing to concede that Ganondorf may have actually been telling the truth now, but he is still furious about everything that’s happened. I can’t convince him to send anyone to Karusa Valley, not an army or a stealth team.”

Link left his cup on the coffee table. _“Will he do nothing at all?”_

Impa wrapped her hands around her cup. “He doesn’t believe there is anything he _can_ do except send you to the Lost Woods.”

Link frowned, lowering his gaze.

Zelda looked back over at Impa and Link, eyebrows knotted in concerned disbelief. “My father can’t really expect Link to be able to pull the master sword. Every Hero has had to prove themselves with dozens of different challenges.”

“Your great-grandfather was able to pull the sword when he was twelve. He only had to prove himself again after his time in the Shrine of Resurrection,” Impa said. “Regardless, that blade is the only chance we have to protect you if Ghirahim tries to kidnap you again.”

“But he wasn’t going to hurt me,” Zelda argued.

“You don’t know that for certain.”

“What reason do you have to think that? He didn’t take me because I was the princess – it was because Ganondorf asked him to find _Kit._ As soon as he told Ghirahim to leave me behind, he listened.”

“Yes, but nevertheless, Twinrova may have other plans. You cannot ignore your namesake’s history.”

“I’m not trying to ignore it!” Zelda turned in his seat and put his fists on his knees. “I’m just trying to focus on what is happening right now – not what happened generations ago – and right now Ganondorf needs us to rescue him and his sister. I don’t care if my father is too cucco-shit to try.” He gestured to the door. “I’ll go myself and—”

“Zelda—”

Link slapped the coffee table, silencing both Impa and Zelda. _“Stop it. I will go to Lost Woods, but after I will go to Karusa Valley.”_

Impa regarded his determined gaze. Link’s stare did not waver. With a sigh, she said, “Very well then.”

“What?” Zelda looked between Link and Impa. “You can’t be serious. You’re letting _him_ leave and not me?”

“Your father won’t be able to disagree,” Impa answered. “Only the Hero is able to navigate through the Lost Woods. Once we let Link go, there is nothing that can stop him from going directly to Karusa Valley afterwards.” She turned back to Link. “That said, I would prefer you return to the castle first so we’ll know you’re all right.”

Impa reached into her haori coat and took out the Sheikah slate. Passing it to Link, she added, “If you can reactivate the shrine at the docks, you can use this to speed your return.”

Link and Zelda both looked surprised at the ancient artifact. While Link gingerly accepted it, Zelda narrowed his eyes at Impa. “What do you mean, ‘reactivate’?” He knew the doors into the shrines had all closed long before he was born, but he assumed that was just to keep people out of them.

“When your great-grandfather passed, the shrines disconnected from the Sheikah slate. None of our researchers have been able to make them reconnect, but they’re hoping that the rise of a new Hero will be the answer.”

“You mean it’s been a brick this whole time?” Zelda asked as Link turned over the slate. They examined the embossed Sheikah symbol on its back and the dark screen on its front. Zelda had wondered why the castle wasn’t using its teleportation technology, but it was one of those subjects that always got ignored and forgotten.

“Not entirely,” Impa answered. “It still has most of its functionality.”

Link tapped the screen and it lit up with the map of Hyrule.

“Whoa. Let me see that.” Zelda got off the sofa to look over his shoulder at the detailed typography.

“The map hasn’t been updated since it was in use by your great-grandparents,” Impa said. “It doesn’t show any new roads or settlements that have been built since their time, and it still shows monster bases where there are none now. I assume you will have to visit each region’s tower in order to renew its information.”

Link nodded as he dragged around the map, surveying all of the shrine locations. They were highlighted in gold, showing that all of them were still known and above ground, but none of them had the blue outline necessary to teleport to them. He flicked the screen to its list of available runes. All of them glowed, ready for use, except for an icon that looked like a horse with wheels instead of legs.

“If you can’t reactivate the shrine at the docks, my theory is that you will need to follow your predecessor’s footsteps and go to the Great Plateau,” Impa said. “Sheikah agents tried to go there once, but the shrines there and all along the journey would not open for them.”

Zelda pulled his attention from the slate to look back at Impa. “Why haven’t you had Link try to use the Sheikah slate before?”

“There was no pressing reason for him to do so,” Impa answered. “Its main value to the kingdom is its teleportation function, but it cannot be used without the Hero. Link is more valuable to your father as your personal guard than a general messenger.” Zelda’s expression told Impa that he didn’t fully believe that reasoning, so Impa added, “Your father also didn’t want to give Link that kind of responsibility yet. Our plan was to wait until after the wedding to bequeath it to him.”

Zelda rolled his eyes. “Of course.” After a moment of thought, he said, “Even if he can reactivate the shrine here, shouldn’t he complete the trials at the Great Plateau first, before he goes to the Lost Woods?”

“If we had the time, yes, but our priority is retrieving the master sword. The runes still work and the only teleportation marker we need is here. We can’t waste our time on luxuries like reactivating other markers while we remain defenseless against Ghirahim.”

“But what if the master sword doesn’t recognize him as the Hero?” Zelda asked.

“Then we have a greater problem than just Ghirahim.”

Zelda groaned and fell back against the sofa. Link glanced at him before signing, _“You both have good points. I would rather go to Great Plateau first, but Lost Woods is closer.”_ Glancing at the door, he added, _“If master sword doesn’t accept me, I can ask Deku Tree for guidance.”_

“Oh, yeah.” Zelda forgot that the forest spirit was probably still watching over the sword’s pedestal. “I guess that’s true.”

Impa rose to her feet. “If we’re in agreement then, I will get a horse readied for you, Link. You should get an overnight bag packed.”

Link nodded and got up. Before he left, he faced Zelda and gave him a hug. _“I’ll come back soon.”_ Stepping away, he added, _“I’ll take many pictures for you.”_

Zelda smiled wryly. “Thanks.” It wouldn’t be the same as being there with him, but it would at least give him something to look forward to.


	22. “I have to be overthinking this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Perceptive readers might have noticed the total chapter count has jumped from 65 to 67 -- this is because I split one of the longer chapters that comes later into two, and I decided to add a much-needed chapter right after this one. You'll learn why soon. :)

The day became dimmer and quieter as Link approached the entrance into the Lost Woods. Behind him, the sun continued shining and squirrels darted between trees. Before him, all greenery withered under a dense pall of unnatural fog. Illuminating the grey grass was a single brazier. Farther ahead was a second one, hardly more than a glowing red dot. A lone crow cawed nearby. Other than the wind rustling dead branches and his horse’s huff of unease, there was no sound.

Link hummed to soothe his mare, petting her neck. She had done well to bring him here in just under two days. If he was quick in Lost Woods, he would be able to return to Woodland Stable before nightfall and get back to the castle by tomorrow evening. He dismounted and unhooked the Sheikah slate from his belt. Tapping the screen, he opened it to the camera and switched to selfie mode in order to take a photo of himself in front of the entrance with his horse. He looked back down at himself and his smile faded. The Lost Woods looked creepier in the photo. One of the trees even seemed to have a gaping mouth full of sharp teeth.

“Wish me luck,” he whispered to his mare. He put the Sheikah slate back onto his belt and picked up the torch that seemed to have been left just for him by the braziers. Though he had added a torch to the slate’s inventory before he left, he figured it would probably be bad luck to not use the one here.

Link needed all the good luck he could get since he wasn’t able to activate the shrine at the castle docks. None of them wanted to believe it was because he wasn’t his namesake, so Link assumed it was just because he was trying to do things out of order. Until he visited the Shrine of Resurrection and completed the trials of the Great Plateau shrines, he doubted that he would be able to reactivate any of the shrines on the mainland.

The main benefit Link got from the Sheikah slate now was its seemingly limitless storage space. The sheer number of items in its inventory baffled and delighted him, as it still contained everything his predecessor had used during his adventure. Its three hundred plus apples alone, fresh as the day they were harvested, would have been enough to feed all of the castle’s guards. When he counted all of the other materials, clothes, and weapons it had, he knew it would let him survive indefinitely in the wild.

After Link lit the torch, he watched the embers blow towards the west. He remembered reading once that his predecessor followed the wind in order to navigate the unnatural fog. So long as he didn’t rush or let himself get spooked, he would be fine. That was what he told himself anyway as he bid goodbye to his mare and started off.

The fog swirled around Link while he walked. Unlike the mist that sometimes rose off the moat in the early morning, the fog of Lost Woods had no scent and didn’t leave a damp feeling on his skin. It hung like smoke inside the jar of a snuffed candle. Link contemplated that thought to distract himself from the eerie pareidolia of the hollow trees. It didn’t help either that his zig-zag path went against all logical reasoning. He knew the Great Deku Tree was supposed to be in the center of Lost Woods. If the fog wasn’t making things complicated, it would have been easy to walk directly there.

An hour passed. Link was still trying to follow the embers from his torch, but the wind was becoming more erratic. The long stretches before each turn were now less than a few steps each. The fog looked denser than ever. He stretched out his hand in front of him and could barely see his fingers. His unease grew into fear, despite how much he tried to ignore it. The Lost Woods was testing his courage – of course it would try to terrify him.

When the wind started making him double-back on his path, Link realized he should have trusted his sense of unease. He had to have taken a wrong turn. Just where he did was the question. Holding out his torch, Link surveyed his immediate surroundings and fought the urge to panic. Through the little he could see in the fog, he counted the indistinct outlines of five trees. Three of them had unsettling, toothy hollows. A crow was preening itself in the branches of the tree on his right.

Link looked back at his torch and saw that the wind had shifted again while he remained standing. That was all the proof he needed to confirm that he could no longer trust it to guide him. Link stuck it into the ground and picked up the Sheikah slate.

The map showed that he was facing due east. If he just turned slightly south, the entrance could not have been more than a thirty-minute walk away. He was more likely to be spirited away and dropped off there before long, though he couldn’t help but wonder why it hadn’t happened yet. Whenever his predecessor veered too far from the path, the Lost Woods always transported him back outside.

It was a concerning thought that Link could do nothing about, so he pushed it from his mind. He picked back up his torch for the little comfort its firelight could offer and headed for the road. While he walked, he kept an eye on the Sheikah slate’s compass.

As Link passed a tree, a black shadow screeched and launched past him. Link recoiled with a yelp. He hooked the Sheikah slate back onto his belt and readied his torch to fight, but then noticed a black feather in the grass. His shoulders slumped as he face-palmed.

A measly crow scared him. Chastising himself, Link took deep breaths to bring back down his heartrate and picked back up the Sheikah slate. As he examined the map, his eyebrows knotted together. The arrow indicating his position showed that he had somehow moved to the northwestern corner of the woods.

Link breathed in sharply. Terror rose in him again and he didn’t know how to rationalize it away. He was supposed to have been taken back to the entrance. The fog was just supposed to keep threats away from the master sword, not entrap trespassers… Even when his predecessor didn’t have the strength to pull the sword the second time he found the Great Deku Tree, the Lost Woods allowed him endless attempts. So why was Link taken farther away?

The only explanation Link could imagine was that the rules changed. He knew its old secrets because he knew how his predecessor succeeded, so it was giving him a new challenge. The realization made him pause. If this was a puzzle rather than a mistake, it didn’t seem so bad. It was something he could work with. Solving puzzles was easy. He just needed to clear his mind of what he thought was _supposed_ to work and focus on his present reality.

The problem was the wind was still shifting irregularly. If he was supposed to go _into_ the wind rather than follow it at the entrance, his missed his opportunity to use it when the wind’s direction was fairly constant. Perhaps there was a pattern in the changes that he missed?

Link put his back to a tree and jabbed his torch back into the ground. Sitting down, he took out his tattered notebook and pencil and laid the Sheikah slate on his lap. He checked the time and marked the current direction of the wind. As the embers from the torch switched direction, he noted the time and the change.

After almost an hour of observation, Link was no closer to understanding the wind than he did when he began. He pushed his fingers through his short bangs and pulled on his hair. “Why is this so hard?” he muttered. His own voice sounded strangely loud to his own ears in the fog’s silence, but it was getting harder to keep his thoughts straight without putting them into words. Since he was alone, he could vocalize them instead of signing to himself. “I have to be overthinking this, but how?” As far as he could tell, there was nothing special about the wind other than its aggravating randomness.

“Maybe it’s not the wind I need to follow?” Link looked at his surroundings again. The fog was as thick as ever. The withered trees surrounding him were but obscure silhouettes. He racked his mind to recall anything that might have been a clue. There was nothing in any of the hollow trees as far as he could tell, but he also hadn’t looked that closely at any of them. He had been too focused on his torch and ignoring their creepy faces. Were they hiding secret waypoints? It was worth a shot to check at least.

Link got back to his feet and walked around the tree he had been sitting against. Carefully fitting his hand between its tooth-like edges, Link leaned forward and waved his torch back and forth inside its hollow. A spider in a web retreated from his light. The bottom was covered in dead leaves. Link ruffled through them, but only a centipede crawled over his hand.

“Ah!” Link shook it off and jumped back. His heartrate spiked again. He swallowed hard to try to calm himself back down. “Stupid bug.” Arthropods and other creatures normally didn’t bother him, so he knew that was a sign that he was getting overwhelmed. Could he spare the time for a break? He checked the time on the Sheikah slate and realized he forgot to have lunch.

With a sigh, chastising himself again for neglecting his physical needs, Link sat down and summoned materials to build a fire. He wouldn’t be able to make anything fancy without a cooking pot, but he could at least roast some trout and Hylian shrooms from the slate’s supplies.

While they cooked, Link wondered what else he could do to find his way through these cursed woods. The only other notable thing he could remember was a fox that had fled as soon as he neared it. Should he have followed it? If so, he wasn’t sure how to go about finding another one. He wasn’t particularly practiced at finding or following tracks. He supposed he could just continue wandering and keep his eyes open to other possibilities. After all, he hadn’t tried exploring without the torch yet. Maybe the Lost Woods didn’t like fire anymore.

Link finished his lunch and stomped out his fire. The food helped him calm back down. No matter how creepy the woods were, there wasn’t anything particularly dangerous in the unnatural fog. Not unless he managed to stumble into any of the Korok trial areas, anyway, but if he did, it would at least indicate that he was close to their home. He didn’t have to worry about running out of rations any time soon. His only real concern was time.

Everyone at the castle was expecting Link to return within the next two days, but he already knew that he would not be able to sleep at Woodland Stable tonight. What would they do if he didn’t return within the week? If he couldn’t navigate these woods, surely none of the other knights would be able to either. He didn’t want to think about any of them getting trapped without a near-limitless source of supplies. There were too many stories of people getting lost and being transformed into monsters. The part about turning into monsters wasn’t confirmed true as far as he was aware, but being trapped permanently was definitely a concern he couldn’t help but consider.

Night eventually fell, at least according to the Sheikah slate, but Link could barely see a difference. He was half-certain that the slightly darker shadows were just his imagination. Time didn’t seem to pass at all in the fog, even though his body felt the exhaustion of wandering aimlessly all afternoon. Twice he had gotten close to escaping, once almost at the entrance and again near the lake that surrounded the woods, and both times he stumbled on an unseen root or rock and found himself in an identical and yet completely different location.

Looking into the fog towards the center of Lost Woods, he signed, _“Why won’t you let me leave or find you?”_ Link could only assume it was the Great Deku Tree keeping him in the endless fog. The ancient forest spirit had to know he was here. He had been fighting the feeling of being watched for almost two hours now, and it had clamed up his ability to comfort himself with his own voice. If it wasn’t the Great Deku Tree watching him… It meant something evil had ensnared him instead. And if that was true, Link didn’t know how to fight an enemy he couldn’t find. Was whatever it was just waiting for him to let down his guard?

The thought terrified him. He needed to make camp soon and sleep, but how could he rest if there was something hiding in the fog? Despite all of the supplies the Sheikah slate had, it didn’t contain a tent or anything to protect him from the unknown. The most he would be able to do would be to lay his head down under the paraglider.

As Link fought his mounting panic, he found himself desperately wishing Zelda was here. The royal heir probably wouldn’t have known what to do either, but they would have been together and could watch each other’s backs. Alone, Link was helpless. He didn’t know how any of his predecessors had withstood the feeling. How did they all manage to travel on their own, with no company but the stars or a horse? He felt more like Zelda’s namesakes than his own. What was his intelligence worth if it didn’t help him be brave or have the strength to fight on his own?

Link stiffened as a thought struck him. _“Am I…?”_

Dirt and roots snapped behind him, followed by a hiss and the clatter of bones.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm curious, since we're finally at the junction where a lot of twists are happening -- what do you think Link realized right at the end here? And what do you think is up with the Sheikah slate?
> 
> I've been so deep in this story for so long now, it's hard to tell if I'm being sneaky or too obvious with my hints. I want y'all to be able to see what's coming, but not the whole picture, if that makes sense.


	23. “Lynels are in the gatehouses.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We hit 125 kudos!!! 
> 
> I just barely got this chapter pulled together in time. I wrote the first draft literally last week and finished editing it last night. ^^; But it's done and it's time for shit to really hit the fan now. 
> 
> Also, I loved all of your comments on the last chapter. It's taking all of my self restraint to neither confirm nor deny your guesses.

Zelda was sleeping soundly with his long limbs tangled in his thick blankets when a gurgling rumble echoed through the kingdom. A faint, red glow leaked through the curtains drawn around his canopy bed. He might have slept through the sinister light if a great crash and the sound of wood splintering hadn’t woken him.

“What in Hyrule?” Zelda jolted up onto his elbows and swept his hair out of his face. He noticed the crack of red light. Then he heard a guttural growl and the slap of bare feet approaching his bed.

Cursing, Zelda threw back his canopy curtains and grabbed his rapier from its spot by his bedside. He stood on his bed, tossed aside its sheath, and found himself facing a black moblin holding an edge of duality. The moblin drew back its arm. Zelda leapt off his bed the moment before its great sword landed where he stood, cutting into his blankets and mattress.

“Shit!” Zelda stumbled back a few steps to put more distance between himself and the monster. He rubbed sleep out of his eyes and stared open-mouthed. It stood nearly taller than Ganondorf and had a freakishly long snout. White war paint streaked its black skin. Rising from the floor all around Zelda’s room were ghostly red embers and trails of black smoke. A purplish haze hung in the air. The sight felt like a nightmare. He questioned if he was actually awake.

Then Zelda noticed the moon behind the lattice glass of his windows. It was a bright, vivid red, as if it was on fire. The whole night sky was ablaze with its light. Zelda’s breath caught in his throat. He recognized what it was, despite never having seen it before. No Hylian alive today was old enough to have seen it except in pictures. It was a blood moon, the first to rise over the kingdom since the defeat of Calamity Ganon.

It wasn’t possible. Couldn’t be possible. It was a thing of history, an old campfire story, but it was here now. The sight was real. And the haze smelled like burning hair, something ghastly. It clung inside his nose and lungs. And outside he heard shouts being raised, calls to arms. Cries of pain. A scream down the hall. Another growl, close by. A monster was in his room. Was still in his room. Attacking him.

Zelda shook himself out of his shock and barely dodged another swing of the moblin’s sword. He felt the whoosh of air of it passing in front of his chest. His foot landed on one of the pieces of his coffee table. Splintered wood broke skin. Zelda swore in pain and kicked his foot to knock off the piece. It clattered away with drops of blood. As the moblin swung at him again, Zelda grit his teeth and hopped backwards. He readjusted his grip on his rapier and lunged forward.

The moblin had no instincts for self-preservation. It didn’t even flinch as Zelda’s rapier pierced its emaciated waist. His blade sunk into its leathery skin like a roast pig. It ignored Zelda’s weapon entirely as it lifted a foot and tried to stomp on the royal heir. He pulled back his rapier and slashed across its side. The moblin didn’t seem to feel that cut either.

Zelda’s foot stung with every step. Bloody smears marked his movements. He continued stabbing at the monster. He couldn’t retreat. His pride wouldn’t allow it, to flee to his study and barricade himself in there. He wasn’t sure he would have been able to make it there anyway. There were probably more monsters upstairs. Definitely a lot of them out in the hallway and the rest of the castle. Zelda couldn’t count on the guards to come save him.

When Zelda was beginning to wonder if his rapier would break before he’d be able to kill this moblin, his bedroom doors opened. Four knights rushed inside. Among their number was Roam. While Roam hurried to Zelda’s side, Zelda backed up and allowed the other knights to get into formation around the moblin. Zelda took cover behind his canopy bed. He kept a hold on his rapier and leaned on one of his canopy posts to take his weight off of his hurt foot.

“What happened?” Roam asked, gesturing to the injury.

“Stepped on a piece of my coffee table,” Zelda spat. The three knights working together finished off the moblin. He didn’t know if their speed was because of their skill or numbers or if it was because he weakened it first. He hoped it was the latter as they spread out through the rest of the room. One went up the staircase to his study, the second went into the bathroom, and the last did a perimeter check through the windows.

Zelda made himself sit down on the end of his bed and lifted up his foot so Roam could look at it. He took deep breaths as his adrenaline wore off and increased the pain. Dully, he noticed that Roam wasn’t wearing all of his armor like the other knights. All he had on over a nightshirt was his helmet, breastplate, and gloves. It meant he couldn’t have been on duty when the blood moon rose and woke everyone. He must have ran straight to Zelda’s room from the guards’ chambers, rather than stay with his unprepared peers.

Zelda didn’t know what to do with that realization. He decided not to mention it. Instead, he asked, “How bad is the rest of the castle?”

“Not gonna lie, it’s keeseshit crazy.” Roam’s face was set in a serious expression. “Guys were stabbed in their sleep. Nobody knows where the healers are. Lynels are in the gatehouses.” He slipped off his gloves and took Zelda’s foot into his calloused hands. His hawkish nose crinkled at the sight. The puncture wasn’t wide, but it looked deep. “You were fighting that thing on this?”

“Yeah, what else—” Zelda hissed as Roam poked the edge of where he was still bleeding. “My first aid kit’s in my wardrobe, bottom drawer.”

“On it.” Roam hurried over to it. While he fought with the dresses in the wardrobe to get to the drawers inside, the knight who went upstairs came back down. He checked in with his companions, then told the second knight to join him. They were going to continue fighting monsters and let the rest of the castle know that Zelda was safe. Roam wished them good luck. The remaining knight returned from Zelda’s bathroom with a basin of water and a towel.

Zelda scooted back farther on his bed and rested his heel on Roam’s knee. The remaining knight set down the water basin and towel on the floor next to them. He went to stand guard by the door while Roam cleaned Zelda’s wound. Zelda sucked air through his teeth, grimacing as Roam worked, but didn’t protest. He gripped his blankets and turned his attention to his windows to try to distract himself. There wasn’t much to see beyond knights fighting monsters on the outer walls under the red moonlight.

If lynels were within the castle walls, Zelda didn’t even want to think about what his citizens were facing alone. So many settlements had been established since the fall of Calamity Ganon. Whole generations had been raised without ever seeing monsters. All of the worst of them like lynels and hinoxes had been hunted to extinction. The few minor ones left were a problem only found in isolated areas or on unused roads. No one was prepared for anything worse than a runaway goat. If the Calamity was resurging, it meant countless people were going to die. Were currently dying. And Zelda was sitting like damsel in distress, unable to do anything about it.

Zelda grit his teeth and looked back at his foot. He found he preferred the pain to his thoughts now, but watching Roam tend to him wasn’t going to be enough to get him back out of his head. It was pointless to ignore the truth anyway. He would be even less help to his people if he tried to turn his back on their deaths.

Roam dried off Zelda’s foot and put a wad of cotton on it. While he wrapped it with gauze, Zelda almost asked if Roam had seen Link on his way over. Then he remembered that Link was probably at Woodland Stable right now. The thought hurt even more than his foot. Zelda hoped that if Link was awake that he was safe. If anything happened to him, neither his duty nor any of the knights would be able to keep him in the castle.

Roam stood back up after he finished wrapping Zelda’s foot. “You should probably try to get back to sleep, but I know that isn’t going to happen.” He walked around Zelda’s bed and picked up the chair in front of his vanity. “You can help us keep watch instead,” he said, setting it back down in front of one of Zelda’s windows.

Zelda frowned. He would have rather gone to join the other knights fighting, but he knew he couldn’t refuse this compromise. Even if he hadn’t let a piece of his damn coffee table do damage to him than he did to that moblin, no one would allow the sole heir of Royal bloodline to further endanger himself. The knowledge infuriated him.

To distract himself from these facts, Zelda asked Roam, “Are you staying here?” He carefully stood back up, using his rapier like a cane.

“Yeah.” Roam held out an arm to help Zelda limp over to the chair he left by the window. “You know I’d never abandon my favorite troublemaker.” After Zelda sat down, Roam passed him the towel he used to clean his foot. Zelda used it to clean monster blood from his rapier. Roam watched for a moment. “Sorry you got in trouble, by the way.”

“Huh?” It took Zelda a moment to remember what he was apologizing for. Roam had let him take his shift in the dungeon so he could meet Ganondorf, so Zelda was grounded for impersonating a knight. “Oh. It’s fine.” He pinched a section of his blade with the towel to rub off a particularly gristly section. It came off quickly. He pretended there was still more to clean. “Did you get into trouble too?”

“Eh, well…” Roam shrugged. “I got demoted, but it’s not so bad.”

Zelda looked up from his rapier. “Seriously?”

“I deserved it.” Roam managed a brief smile. “The captain can’t have me setting a bad example for the rookies and not get reprimanded for it.”

“But still…” Zelda lowered his gaze. He pulled the towel down the length of his blade one more time and scowled at the gleaming steel. It frustrated him how easily it had been cared for, how it underscored everything else he couldn’t fix. Zelda knew being demoted affected a knight’s pay. Roam was old enough now that it would be difficult to gain back his lost rank.

“Don’t worry your pretty little head about it.” Roam walked back over to Zelda’s bed to fetch his rapier’s sheath. As he handed it to him, he said, “I’m going to stand guard upstairs.”

“Okay.” Zelda reluctantly put his rapier back into its sheath. He watched knights outside running around the castle grounds, fighting bokoblins and more moblins. One of the men was felled by a club. Zelda tensed. He couldn’t tell if he was killed or just knocked unconscious. He prayed it was the latter and reminded himself it wouldn’t help anyone if he left his room.

After a while, Zelda wondered if Impa and his father were okay. Impa could certainly take care of herself, but his father wasn’t a warrior. He hadn’t used a sword since he was a young man, and even back then, he was more fond of books and history than fighting. It was one of the many reasons Zelda struggled to relate to him at all sometimes, despite their shared concern for their kingdom. If anything happened to him, Zelda didn’t know what he would do. He didn’t want him to die. For all his faults, he was still his father. And a small part of him still hoped beyond reason that they would fix the problems between them.

Zelda spent most of the rest of the night trying to figure out what caused the blood moons’ return. It was almost definitely related to Ganondorf’s mothers, but he didn’t know how they could do something so evil. It hurt to try to imagine all the ways they could have forced Ganondorf to be involved, now that he was in their clutches again. It was even worse to think about the fact that Link wasn’t even supposed to come back with the master sword until tomorrow. If anything worse than monsters appeared within the castle walls before he returned, Zelda knew they were screwed. The knights and the Sheikah agents they kept around had their limits. He couldn’t use Hylia’s grace. He was only vaguely proficient with fire spells and his rapier.

The worst thing Zelda did know for certain was that this blood moon marked the end of peace in Hyrule. Countless monsters were back, and he was powerless to do anything about it.


	24. “I thought Picori were supposed to be kid-friendly.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update! I got distracted by D&D today (our first meeting in over a month), and then I realized I needed to make some crucial edits to fill in a plot hole, so I only just now got this chapter cleaned up enough to post it.
> 
> Also, to clarify why the last chapter didn't exist until last week... Before I wrote out the blood moon happening, I literally revealed that huge conflict twist in a _summary_ at the beginning of this chapter. I don't know why I introduced it in such a stupid way before (probably had something to do with the fact that I retroactively decided to make that a thing), but it's fixed now.

Zelda was beating the stuffing out of a practice dummy with his rapier when a servant rolled in a lunch cart. He ignored her and continued his vicious barrage. It had been a full week since Link left for Lost Woods.

During the first two days, Zelda had been kept busy with wedding preparations, since his father insisted that the wedding could not be postponed. They met with the florist and finalized the bouquet and table arrangements, rescheduled the cake tasting with Wheaton and Pita’s bakery to happen after Link was due to return, and reviewed the guest list so Zelda would remember the names of the countless nobles and foreign dignitaries they were inviting. Zelda also had his final dress fitting.

During the night leading into the third day, the blood moon rose and filled the castle with monsters. Throughout the third and fourth day the castle awaited Link’s return, the guards killed all of the monsters that had spawned within the castle walls. Many knights were also killed in the process. Impa collected reports of monsters reappearing across the kingdom, including highly deadly ones like the formerly-extinct hinoxes and all breeds of lynels. Settlements that had only known peace were being overrun by bokoblins and moblins. Travelers were being waylaid by them and lizalfos too.

Fortunately, none of the few remaining ancient guardians showed signs of being revived. All of them had been scrapped for parts by generations of treasure hunters. No new ones had been found so far, but Impa did not discount the possibility. Whatever caused the blood moon’s return was sure to do much worse.

When Link didn’t return on the fifth day, Zelda’s worry increased tenfold. He knew there was a chance Link could have run into the revived monsters, but he didn’t think it was possible for them to delay him that long.

On the sixth day, after Link still hadn’t returned, Impa sent two Sheikah agents to Woodland Stable to ask about him. Only one agent returned. She reported that Link never returned to the stable after he went north into the Lost Woods. Her and her partner found his horse grazing near the entrance, thankfully unharmed, but evidently a little worse for wear from wearing her tack for multiple days. The two agents attempted to navigate Lost Woods to look for Link, but they were almost immediately separated by the unnatural fog. The agent who delivered the news made it back to the castle by teleporting to their rendezvous point in the castle, but her partner did not return.

Today, now that a Sheikah was officially missing along with Link, Impa and the king declared that no one else would be allowed to enter the Lost Woods.

“What do you mean? We’re not going to look for him?” Zelda had shouted at Impa when she delivered the news that morning. “My best friend’s missing and you won’t do anything?”

“What would you have us do?” Impa retorted. “Send more people on a suicide mission? I want Link back as much as you, but I’m not letting that forest take anyone else.”

“We don’t know that they’re gone forever! We have to try, to do _something_ —”

“We can’t! And more hasty thinking will solve nothing!” Impa’s voice shook with emotion. “It is my fault and your father’s for sending Link away before he was ready. We should have sent him to the Great Plateau first, but we didn’t.” She took a step back. “If you have any faith in the Goddesses, pray for Link and ask them to forgive our foolishness.”

Zelda didn’t know how to respond after that. He had never seen his caretaker so aggrieved. Even after his mother’s premature passing, Impa had remained levelheaded and stoic for him. Now, Zelda supposed he was too old to get that mask of composure. He realized he didn’t want it either. Not when he might never see Link again.

To add insult to injury, the king continued to uphold Zelda’s confinement to his room. Guards were stationed outside his door and windows at all hours. The only thing that helped whittle away his time was the sparring dummy Roam dropped off for him. The older knight had left a note, encouraging him to hold out hope, and pinned a poorly drawn picture of his own face to the dummy’s head. Zelda had been tempted to slash it to pieces out of pure frustration at the empty optimism, but the knight had already been demoted because of his actions. He put the drawing in his desk instead. It would be perfect for the next time Roam properly pissed him off.

After Zelda finished a series of blows that knocked off the dummy’s head, he picked up the rag he had left on the back of his sofa and wiped off sweat. Stray strands of his hair were plastered to his forehead, and his shirt was sticking to his back. His injured foot was hurting, but it was better than it could have been because healers attended to it with magic after the blood moon. He tossed the rag back onto the sofa and turned towards the lunch cart the servant dropped off. He did a double-take at the sight.

Standing beside a pitcher of iced mighty thistle tea was a tiny, mouse-like person wearing a purple cap and tunic.

“Uh…” Zelda stared dumbly at the tiny person.

“You’re Kit, right?” The tiny person anxiously held his hands. “Or do you prefer Zelda?”

Zelda blinked. “Kit’s fine?” He wiped back his sweaty strands of hair and self-consciously moved his arm over his chest, as he wasn’t currently wearing his binder beneath his shirt. “Do you know Ganondorf?”

“I’m his friend,” he answered, somber. “My name is Vaati.”

“Vaati?” The name rang a bell, but Zelda couldn’t place where he had heard of it before.

“I promise I’m not like Ghirahim.” Vaati jumped off the lunch cart and landed as a Hylian child with long, lavender hair. “The darkness that was in me was purged by your namesake after the Link of my era defeated me.”

“Huh?” Zelda continued to look confused for a moment before he gasped. “Oh!” His expression grew into disbelief. “You’re that demon from the four sword fairy tales?”

Vaati frowned at Zelda, annoyed. “No. That demon came from me, but we’re separate entities now. I’m only a Minish.”

“I thought you were called Picori?”

Rolling his eyes, Vaati said, “Only Hylians call us that.”

“You sure?”

“Yes,” Vaati said, exasperated. “This is all beside the point of me being here. Gan and I need Link’s help.”

Zelda’s eyebrows rose before they furrowed once more. He put his back to Vaati and faced his beheaded dummy. “Link’s missing.”

“What?” Vaati stared at Zelda, shocked. “Since when?”

“Since three days ago, but it’s been a week since I saw him.” Zelda picked up the dummy’s head and shoved it back onto its body. “He went to get the master sword from the Lost Woods and hasn’t come back yet.”

“Fuck.”

“Yeah.” Zelda unsheathed his rapier and got back into a fighting stance. “I thought Picori were supposed to be kid-friendly.”

Vaati scowled at Zelda. “It’s still Minish, and I’m not a child.”

“Then why do you look like that if you’re an adult?” Zelda struck the dummy and darted around it, striking again.

“This shape takes less energy.” Vaati walked over to the sofa and put his hands on top of its back. Pulling himself up, he reverted to his Minish form and sat down. He watched Zelda continue to attack the dummy for a minute. “Your anger’s making your moves sloppy.”

With a shout, Zelda knocked off the dummy’s head again. He turned his glare to Vaati. “Yeah, what of it?”

“Gan was the same.”

The response made Zelda pause. “So?” He put his rapier away and leaned it against the sofa. Returning to the lunch cart, he poured himself a glass of the mighty thistle tea.

“I say that because you’re not going to accomplish anything if you let your anger get the best of you. With the blood moon’s return and Link now missing, we can’t afford that.”

“Then what’s your recommendation, pipsqueak?” Zelda folded his arm over his chest again, but he was too sweaty to justify putting on another layer to better hide its shape. “I can’t leave this damn room.”

“Not through conventional means, you mean.”

Zelda merely raised his eyebrow in response while he took a drink.

“I can teleport us back to the Yiga base.”

The statement made Zelda nearly inhale his tea. He cleared his throat and lowered his glass. “You want me to go to the desert with you?”

“Not necessarily. I just spent the last week trying to get here in one piece.” Vaati stood up and walked along the back of the sofa. He stopped on its corner and faced Zelda. “If you’ll allow me to leave a sigil here where it won’t be disturbed, I will be able to leave and return freely.”

Zelda narrowed his eyes at Vaati. “Would you be able to bring Ganondorf and Nabooru?”

“Yes, but I will be honest – if I do so, Ghirahim will almost certainly return to look for them. They will be found if they try to stay here.”

“So I’d basically be welcoming crazy demon bait.” Zelda took another sip of his iced tea while he weighed the risk. Another thought occurred to him while he stared at the ice in his glass. “If you can get them out of the Yiga’s hideout, why do you need Link?”

Vaati averted his gaze. “It’s not really Link we need. It’s the master sword.” He sat back down on the edge of the couch. “Twinrova tricked Gan into seriously hurting Nabooru.”

“What do you mean?” Zelda had a sinking feeling as he looked at the Minish.

“After Gan returned to the hideout, they put Nab into a suit of armor and enchanted it so she and a bunch of other copies would fight Gan. She couldn’t get out or tell him she was inside, so he…” Vaati’s expression became pained. “He thought he killed her.”

Zelda’s eyes widened in horror, unable to stop himself from imagining it. His blades would have gone through the empty suits of armor, knocking them to pieces, until suddenly burying into something yielding and sliding out slick with blood. A wet splatter would have hit the floor rather than a hollow clatter. Zelda didn’t want to picture how Ganondorf must have realized it was his own sister and not just a monster. Did Nabooru have to continue fighting her brother in the cursed armor until the spell ran out? Or did Ganondorf manage to knock off her helmet without cutting off her head?

“I almost thought she was dead too, yet somehow she still had a pulse when he brought her to me,” Vaati continued. “I tried to reverse the damage, but Twinrova cursed Gan’s blades to make wounds resistant to light magic.” Vaati gripped the end of his tunic. “I had no choice but to use dark magic instead and petrify her. It was the only way to not lose her completely… But now she can’t be restored without Hylia’s power.”

A power that Zelda was supposed to have, he belatedly realized, but could not use. It stung that Vaati didn’t even ask him to try helping, but he understood. He had told Ganondorf that Link and the princess couldn’t use their Triforce pieces. Zelda wasn’t even any good at normal healing magic, so the master sword was really the only option left.

Zelda sighed in frustration. “So Ganondorf has been stuck with a statue of his almost-dead sister since he left the castle?”

Vaati nodded without looking up.

“Nayru’s tits.” Zelda slammed down his glass on the lunch cart. Glancing over his room, he asked, “Does that sigil need to be uncovered or can it just be under a rug or something?”

“It can be hidden as long as there is enough space near it for people to appear,” Vaati answered. “It doesn’t need to be large either.”

“Okay.” Zelda faced the massive bookcases across from his bed and the sofa. He barely ever touched it, and he knew the servants only occasionally dusted the shelves. Whenever they did, they never removed any of the books. Pointing to the bookcases, he said, “Put the sigil in there and take me to Ganondorf.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, that crucial change I said I made? I had to go back and make the Sheikah agents actually try to look for Link before they called him a lost cause, and I needed to make at least one of them not make it out. I also added a day to the timeline (so Link would be gone 7 days instead of 6 - this change is gonna affect stuff in book 2 in an accidentally convenient way).
> 
> I'm not gonna say why these things were so important (and really, the plot hole was probably only something I would ever notice because it's more of an issue with characterization than logistics), but I'd love to hear if you have any guesses.
> 
> Alternatively, we could talk about Vaati revealing what happened to Nab. Because that scene -- Gan almost killing his sister and his mothers watching the whole thing, goading him along? I tried writing it. I really did, but it was one of those things that was just impossible to portray the full depth of mindfuckery happening. So I had to have Kit just imagine some possibilities and hope that you, my lovely readers, would come up with suitably horrifying scenes. If it worked, let me know.


	25. “Fuck off, Ghirahim.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I split another long chapter later on into two again and bulked out the latter half of it to fix some pacing, so we're up to 68 chapters and about 121,000 words. Also, I have 13 chapters and about 26,000 words written for book 2 of this fic, which I'm really happy about. (And I have a working title finally!!) My hope is to have book 2 done by the time this story is all fully uploaded, and then work on editing it during regular updates just like I'm doing with this story.
> 
> So basically, I hope you like my kids and their world as much as I do, because they have _a lot_ more to do before I'm done with them.

Ganondorf limped into his room and collapsed at the edge of his unmade bed. His breathing sounded ragged, one part due to exhaustion, another part due to fighting back a sob. Black and purple lines of bruises lined his skin, shaped like snakes constricting his body. His ankle was swollen, definitely sprained if not broken. All of his armor was corroded, and most of his clothing had also been burned. His poor state was caused completely by his mothers’ recent discovery – a source of Malice they could bend to their will.

It was the second day of his mothers’ interrogation, and it was also the second day Ganondorf had been alone in the Yiga hideout. His sister was still petrified in her room. He couldn’t even look at her without his guilt overwhelming him. Vaati was out somewhere between the Highlands and Hyrule field. The Minish was supposed to return at nightfall using the new teleportation sigil he designed, but that would not be for another few hours. All Ganondorf could do to treat his injuries in the meantime was drink some elixirs and rest.

Ganondorf’s body ached and protested his every move, but he forced himself to remove his damaged armor and take a shower. The hot water helped wash away the polluted feeling of Malice on his skin.

He didn’t understand why the cursed sludge still existed in Hyrule. It was supposed to have been wiped out with Calamity Ganon. But somehow, his mothers found it after he came back from the castle and worked it into an obstacle course. They told him he could skip the trial if he admitted how Nabooru became petrified. They didn’t believe the answer he gave, that she did it to herself. Nabooru didn’t have even an ounce of darkness to be able to cast that kind of magic. He couldn’t claim he did it himself, though, despite that Ghirahim assumed as much. If he did, Ganondorf knew his mothers would try to make him recreate the spell, and that was out of the question. So, he had to fight upgraded guardian stalkers and trudge through the thick, black pools of their new energy source.

When he finished his shower, Ganondorf found that Jarek made him lunch. The Yiga foot soldier left the plate of meat curry on his desk for him with a note telling him to stay strong. The sentiment would have been better appreciated had Jarek not also mentioned that he had money in the dead pool on Ganondorf living through the rest of the year. Ganondorf didn’t understand how Jarek could bet he was a sham and still have confidence in his ability to survive, but Ganondorf would have preferred not to know that there was a group of Yigas debating how long it would take for his mothers to kill him. The morbid question dogged his thoughts while he ate and after he collapsed onto his bed. His moment of rest was short-lived.

“Hello, Ganny,” Ghirahim sang, appearing in the center of his room. Ganondorf pushed his face into his pillow with a groan. “You made a rather good show this morning, mucking about in that Malice like a pig.” He laughed at his own joke. Teleporting to sit on top of Ganondorf’s desk, he crossed his leg over his knee. He leaned forward over Ganondorf. “Tell me, has the manifestation of your hatred for the Goddesses jogged any memories yet?”

“No,” Ganondorf answered without removing his face from his pillow.

“Aw, don’t sulk. You know it’s not becoming of you.”

“Fuck off, Ghirahim.” Ganondorf rolled onto his side, putting his back to the demon. “I’m not in the mood.”

“That is what you always say, but—”

“I mean it.” Ganondorf pressed his fist against his sheets. “Fuck. Off.”

Ghirahim pouted. “I don’t see why you wouldn’t want my company. I’m your only friend left.” He rested one hand behind himself on the desk and waved his other hand nonchalantly. “ _You_ made me leave your little Kit at the castle, and _you’re_ the one who petrified Nabooru. If—”

“Fuck off!” Ganondorf snapped, sitting upright. “Shut up and leave me alone!” He stood and faced Ghirahim. “You think I wanted to leave Kit? To lose my _sister_?” He held out his hands. “I was trying to _save her!_ ”

Ghirahim looked momentarily at a loss for words. Uncertainly, he tried snark again. “Well, if you were so attached to her, why did you try to run away with the princess?”

“Fuck you!” Ganondorf grabbed one of his twin blades from his dresser. He flung it at Ghirahim, but the demon teleported to the door. The blade hit the wall and clattered onto his desk. “You know nothing about what it means to care about someone!” Ganondorf picked up his other blade and threw it too.

Ghirahim sidestepped the second blade and it lodged itself in the door where his head had been. “ _I_ know nothing?” he said incredulously. He touched the tips of his fingers to his chest. “Everything I’m doing is to get you back to your old self!”

“So you can be a fucking slave again?” Ganondorf picked up the blade that had fallen onto his desk. “I want my sister back because I love her!” he shouted, throwing his blade again. “The only reason she’s stuck like this is because of _you_.”

Ghirahim teleported to another corner of Ganondorf’s room as his weapon clattered against the wall. “Me?” He held up his arms defensively. “How is it _my_ fault?”

“Kit was going to get us free, but _you_ had to tell my mothers everything!” Ganondorf panted, becoming exhausted by his anger. He dropped his hands and balled them back into fists. “If it wasn’t for you, they wouldn’t have put Nabooru in that damn suit of armor, and I wouldn’t have hurt her.”

Ghirahim went quiet while he stared at Ganondorf. “Oh.” His defensive posture slackened. He turned away his face. “I… see.” He frowned, seeming unsure what to do with this information. “I will, um… take my leave, then.” After a curt bow, he vanished.

Ganondorf looked baffled at the empty corner. If he didn’t know any better, the demon almost looked sorry. Ghirahim wasn’t capable of empathy, much less remorse. As days passed, however, Ganondorf became less certain.

Ganondorf endured three more days of his mothers’ ‘lessons,’ but Ghirahim did not return to his room again. He only saw him in the arena at the end of each of his trials, when the demon brought him elixirs, ice packs, and bandages for wounds elixirs couldn’t repair on their own. New bruises joined his old ones. A cracked rib made it hard to breathe. Vaati couldn’t fully heal any of his injuries without drawing more suspicion from his mothers, so he focused on repairing internal or crippling injuries each night.

It was a new kind of torture, being unable to have a clean slate before facing his mothers’ abuse each day. His loneliness only made it worse. He missed Vaati during the day. He missed his sister even more. Her ability to distract him and to find things to do between their mothers’ ‘lessons’ was a gift he had taken for granted. He even almost missed Ghirahim’s company, despite being thankful for the space the demon was giving him.

On day six, rather than being woken up by Jarek or another foot soldier, the morning was quiet. When Ganondorf did wake, he got up with a start, thinking he had been moved during his sleep for a new challenge. Then he realized he was still alone in his room. The fact didn’t reassure him until he got up and checked on his sister, but she was still exactly where he had left her on his bed. Slowly he returned to his room, hesitant to believe his luck. His mothers must have decided to give him a reprieve. Ganondorf collapsed back onto his bed with relief. He would finally have time to let his injuries heal.

The peace lasted through lunch and then through the evening. It had been a long time since Ganondorf had been left alone in the hideout for an entire day. Vaati was able to clear up more of his injuries, leaving most of his skin free of scabs and bruises.

When Vaati left on the morning of day seven, telling him that he made it to Castle Town and would likely find Kit soon, Ganondorf struggled to relax. There was little that could occupy his time. The books he had were all ones he had read before. He could get out his art supplies and paint more pictures to decorate his room, but it seemed like a worthless endeavor. Ghirahim was always willing to spar with him, but they still hadn’t really talked to each other since the demon’s swift exit. It would be too awkward to ask now.

So, without any summons from his mother, Ganondorf was left to stress over unknowns. Would Vaati make it to the castle despite the monsters filling the land again? Would Kit trust the Minish? Could they convince Link to get them the master sword? Ganondorf didn’t know how much longer he could stand being alone.

At noon, when Vaati returned and told him Kit wanted to see him, Ganondorf could have wept with joy. Instead he composed himself, asked Vaati to heal his remaining injuries, and teleported with him back to the castle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God, Ghirahim is so much fun. Every time I come back to him in these early chapters, it's such a trip to remember how he started.
> 
> My question for y'all this week - what do you think is going through Ghirahim's head through all of this? And what do you think he's actually doing during all of the time he's not around Ganondorf?
> 
> I ask because he's doing a ton of stuff in the background, but I've kind of purposefully avoided leaving any hints about it because Ghirahim is as secretive with me as he is with everyone else in this story. (The damn disaster child makes it really hard to get into his head sometimes...)


	26. “No more waiting around.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to mention last week, I've been learning how to use Procreate on my sister's iPad. I've posted the drawings I've done so far on my Twitter, but I remembered that not everyone here follows me over there. So, I'm including the first drawing I did of Kit (digitally anyway) with today's update. If you all like it, let me know! I plan to post the other drawings I've done with future updates.

[[You can like or retweet this pic on Twitter through this link.]](https://twitter.com/DarkAcey/status/1255564456903532545)

* * *

  
It took Vaati only a few minutes to carve an eye symbol behind Zelda’s collection of Picori fairy tales. When he finished, Zelda asked him to go without him first and make sure the coast was clear. The last thing they needed was for Zelda to appear in the Yiga Clan’s hideout and be immediately captured. Zelda also wanted the time to eat his lunch, and more importantly, make himself presentable, though he did not mention his second reason. The Minish didn’t need to know that thinking of Ganondorf still made Zelda’s stomach flutter with summerwings.

Zelda didn’t have time for a bath, so he settled with sponging off his sweatiest areas and changed into fresh clothes exactly the same as he was wearing before. He had several, identical heather grey shirts and charcoal pants because taking more than a minute to decide how to clothe his body usually tanked his self-esteem for the rest of the day. When he was done, he brought his sandwich over to his vanity so he could eat and attack his hair at the same time.

As he stuffed his face and yanked on a particularly stubborn tangle, Zelda heard a soft pop and noticed a purple puff of smoke in the corner of his eye. Zelda looked at the bookcase in his mirror and choked on his bite. Ganondorf was standing behind Vaati. The Minish in his Hylian form was barely taller than the height of the Gerudo’s waist.

“Oh, shit,” Ganondorf said, alarmed as Zelda coughed. “Are you okay?” The royal heir dropped his hairbrush to lean on his vanity and hit his sternum, but his brush remained caught on the tangle he was trying to pull out.

“Just fine,” Zelda croaked. He grabbed his glass and took a drink to clear his throat. When he could breathe again, Zelda fished his brush out of his hair and tossed it aside. His face burned with embarrassment. Putting his elbows on his vanity, he held his forehead with both hands. “What are you doing here?”

“I, uh, wanted to see you sooner?” Ganondorf rubbed the back of his neck, looking as self-conscious as Zelda felt. “I also wanted to make sure traveling with companions would work. I didn’t want Vaati to bring you to the desert without making sure he could bring you back.”

“Oh.” Zelda laughed awkwardly. He worked his fingers through his tangles, fidgeting with them. “Well, it seems to work, I guess.”

“I’m sorry.” Ganondorf half-smiled sheepishly. “I should’ve asked Vaati to warn you first.” Vaati looked at each of them with a nauseated expression, pretending to gag. Ganondorf noticed and gave Vaati a sharp look. The Minish crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows in return, silently challenging him as if the Gerudo was the smaller one.

“Hey, no, it’s fine.” Zelda lifted his hands to wave away Ganondorf’s concern, but his fingers were still stuck in his hair. “Dammit.” He jerked them back out. “Stupid knots. I’d chop off all of this cursed hair if I could.”

Ganondorf faced Zelda again and frowned. “You can’t?”

“No, my father has an aneurism every time I even mention it.”

“Your father the king?” Ganondorf said, more of a statement than a question.

“Yeah.” Zelda heaved a sigh and leaned back on his elbows. “Still don’t think I’m a freak?”

“Why would I? Knowing this just explains everything I didn’t get before.”

“I guess.” Zelda began picking through his hair again. Vaati walked over to the sitting area and hopped up onto the side chair. His short legs dangled over the floor. Ganondorf remained standing awkwardly. Zelda figured he didn’t trust his weight on the antique furniture, and he didn’t blame him if that was the case. Most of it was a few hundred years old. Only the coffee table was recently replaced.

The memory reminded him of the guards outside his room. Zelda narrowed his eyes at his door, but it still seemed locked. No one seemed to have raised the alarm yet either, despite that their conversation should have been noticed. “That’s weird.”

“What is?” Ganondorf found himself uneasy with Zelda’s expression.

“Guards were posted all around my room,” Zelda explained, causing Ganondorf to flinch. “They should’ve heard us by now, so I’m surprised they haven’t run in here already.”

“I charmed the room to give us privacy,” Vaati said, scooting back comfortably in the side chair. “I was worried you would assume I was like Ghirahim and call for them before I could explain everything.”

Zelda pursed his eyebrows at the Minish. “So they can’t hear anything at all?”

“Not until I lift the spell.” Vaati pulled his cap down over his eyes and folded his hands over his waist.

Ganondorf didn’t look fully reassured. “Won’t they come in here if it stays too quiet?”

“I don’t normally make a lot of noise,” Zelda answered. “They might just be happy I’ve settled down.” Before Ganondorf could ask what he meant, he continued, “I found out this morning that Impa and my father aren’t going to send anyone after Link. Some Sheikah agents already tried looking for him, and one of them went missing too. They think the woods will trap whoever else goes in.”

“Ah.” Ganondorf nodded, pressing his lips into a thin line. “Our problems are the same, then. We need the master sword to help my sister, and we can’t get it until Link returns.”

“Yeah.” Zelda managed to handpick out the worst of his knots, so he brushed it smooth and tied it back up. As he got to his feet and walked back over to the sofa, he said, “You can sit down if you want. I don’t really think you’d break anything.”

Ganondorf raised an eyebrow, bemused. “I don’t know if I should feel more insulted for myself or your furniture.”

Zelda snorted. “Take it as you will.”

Ganondorf smiled despite himself. He sat down on the rug across from the sofa and crossed his legs. Resting his forearms on the coffee table, he asked, “How likely is it that Link will find his way out of the Lost Woods on his own?”

Zelda found himself eye level with Ganondorf from his seat on the sofa. He looked away and played with the end of his ponytail. “I don’t know. He was supposed to have come back three days ago.” He twisted a lock of his hair around his fingers. “I have no idea what would be keeping him.”

“Could something have attacked him?”

“I’d hope not, but it is possible.” Zelda paused. “I’m more afraid that he simply got lost. He could be turning into skull kid or deku scrub right now.”

“You think the Woods would actually do that to him?”

“If it thought he wasn’t worthy, and he certainly barely qualifies as a Hero.”

Frowning, Ganondorf asked, “Why? You couldn’t really have expected him to beat Ghirahim, did you?”

“No, but like… Link’s always been more timid than me. He’s never really had a problem just doing as he’s told. It’s almost always me who gets us into trouble.” Zelda pulled on the twisted hair pinching his fingers, making his knuckles whiten. “Knowing that, I hate that he let my father talk him into going there by himself. I hate thinking that he’s trapped there, possibly hurt or dead, while I’m stuck here being useless.”

Ganondorf sighed. “Okay then.” He sat up straighter. “I say fuck it. No more waiting around. I’ve waited a week to do something about my sister, and you’ve waited too long already for Link. Nab isn’t going to get any worse or better, but if Link is hurt, we need to find him now.”

“How do you plan to rescue him if we’re both under house arrest by our parents?”

Ganondorf gestured to Vaati, who looked asleep under his sock cap. He looked at Zelda with an expression that said, _“Need I say more?”_

“Can he teleport us into Lost Woods?”

“If he can make it there and put down a sigil, I don’t see why not.”

Vaati lifted back up his cap. “Excuse me?” He narrowed his eyes at Ganondorf. “Do you realize how exhausting it was to get here from the desert on my own?”

“Lost Woods isn’t that much further,” Ganondorf said.

Vaati scoffed, sitting up in his seat. “It’s at least two more days when I barely survived the first seven. If you want me to lay more sigils, you’ll have to carry me there yourself.”

Ganondorf scowled at Vaati. “You can’t be serious.”

“I am, especially if you expect me to keep teleporting you around.” Vaati returned to his Minish size and stood on the chair. “Look at me. I am not a big person, and I don’t have the mage’s cap. A little trip for you is very much not a little trip for me!”

“Okay,” Zelda said, trying to sound placating to diffuse the tension in the room. “If you can at least get us out of the castle, we’ll take you as far as we can go before we both have to return home. Then we’ll just pick up from there the next day and keep going until we reach Lost Woods. Does that sound fair?”

Vaati considered the proposition. After a moment, he nodded. “I can handle that.”

“Ganondorf, is that okay with you?”

The Gerudo bit the inside of his cheek, thinking it over. “It’ll be difficult to travel when we’re both expected to remain in our rooms,” he eventually said. “My mothers have finally stopped grilling me, but I don’t know how long the break will last. It’s usually never more than a few days, and they might still want to see me for other things. We’ll need accomplices to cover our asses so we don’t get caught.”

Zelda frowned. Impa came to mind first, but he knew she would be adamantly against the idea. The roads were dangerous now, and there was no telling how they would be able to navigate the Lost Woods. It was more likely that she would sabotage their rescue efforts than aid them. Folding his arms, he sat back against the sofa. “I suppose I can ask Roam. Is there anyone you can trust in the Yiga Clan?”

“No, not really, but…” Ganondorf remembered Jarek. The foot soldier had expressed more sympathy than he expected after Nabooru was petrified, and Jarek had little respect for his mothers and the organization in general. There was a chance he could be bribed or persuaded. “I might have someone who can help.”

“Well, touch base with them and I’ll talk to Roam. Should we plan to reconvene tomorrow morning?”

“Yeah.” Waiting until tomorrow seemed too long of a wait, but Ganondorf saw the sense in it. They would need time to talk to their accomplices, rest, and prepare whatever they needed to travel. Having Vaati meant that they would be able to sleep in their own beds at night, but because few horses could support Ganondorf’s weight, they were probably going to be stuck traveling on foot.

“All right then.” Zelda slapped his knees. “Operation Save Everybody is a go!”


	27. “Are you always this easy to embarrass, or is it just me?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy cow, have I been busy editing. I broke up some more chapters and just wrote a whole new one about Link (chapter 44), so I'm quite proud of the progress I've made.
> 
> The drawing at the start of this chapter is Kit and Gan in Castle Town - it's not really a scene that exists in this story, but this chapter comes close enough. ;)

[[Link to this pic's tweet]](https://twitter.com/DarkAcey/status/1257804025933828099)

* * *

In a dilapidated alley on the east side of Castle Town, Zelda appeared with Vaati beside him behind a closed pawn shop.

“I’ll be right back with Ganondorf,” Vaati said, disappearing with a tiny puff of purple smoke.

Zelda dusted his hands, despite that the smoke left no residue, and took in his surroundings. Vaati had placed his eye symbol low on the brick wall behind the pawn shop. Outside the alley in the morning light, few people passed by. This part of town didn’t have as many early risers as the central market area.

A minute later, Ganondorf appeared with Vaati Minish-sized in his hand. Zelda did a double-take at the Gerudo, baffled at his appearance, before a blush crept over his cheeks. He abruptly turned away and hid his face. Ganondorf was wearing his usual desert pants, but he had added a hip sash with gold coins. Partially visible beneath his sand-colored cloak, he was also wearing a teal vai top and close-fitting gold bracelets. Covering his nose and mouth was a matching veil.

“What?” Ganondorf asked, irked because he thought Zelda was stifling a laugh. “I know I don’t look like a woman, but how else am I supposed to disguise myself? I’m the only man of my race.”

“I know, I’m sorry,” Zelda answered, holding up his hand apologetically. His mind had gone to the Gerudo dancers who had been invited to the castle once during an ambassadorship dinner, and he couldn’t get out the thought of how _hot_ it would be to see Ganondorf perform like that. “I just wasn’t expecting it.”

Ganondorf rolled his eyes. He lifted the hand holding Vaati to put him on his shoulder. The Minish tucked himself into the inner folds of his cloak, disappearing from Zelda’s point of view.

“If it helps,” Zelda said hesitantly, “I don’t think you look bad.” More nervously, he added, “The color looks good on you.”

Ganondorf looked sidelong down at Zelda, but smiled behind his teal veil. “It’s my favorite.” He gestured at Zelda. “This a disguise too?”

“Sort of?” Zelda glanced down at himself. He had put his hair into a low braid and tied a dark red scarf over his head, leaving its long ends to trail over his shoulder. He continued the rogue theme with the rest of his outfit, choosing to wear a plum silk belt for his rapier over a loose shirt, black pants, and supple leather boots. He wasn’t entirely sure if he liked the look, but he didn’t want to stick with his usual outfit and he had run out of patience this morning to put together a better set of clothes.

“The only time citizens ever see me is during special occasions, and I’m always stuck in a dress for them.” Zelda looked back down the alley. “I dress more like this normally, so I think only guards would recognize me right now.” Fiddling with the ends of his headscarf, he added, “This was just because I felt like pretending to be a pirate.”

Ganondorf stared for a moment. Then a snicker escaped him and he broke into laughter.

“What?” Zelda asked.

“You’ll be mad if I say it,” Ganondorf said, struggling to wrestle down his mirth. He held his fist over the veil covering his mouth.

Zelda pursed his eyebrows. “What do you mean?”

“It’s rude.” He turned away as he grew more bashful.

“So?” Zelda darted around Ganondorf to look up at his face. “Tell me!”

“No—”

“C’mon!” The Gerudo tried to turn away again, but Zelda ran around to stay in front of him. “I promise I won’t be mad.”

“Sure about that?” Ganondorf raised an eyebrow, looking down at Zelda dubiously. The royal heir was only as tall as the middle of his chest. Zelda hadn’t seemed so small before, back when Ganondorf was locked up in the castle dungeon or when they were sitting in Zelda’s room, but now the difference in their height was comically obvious.

“Yeah, do your worst. What made you laugh?”

Scratching his eyebrow, Ganondorf answered sheepishly, “Well, if you’re a pirate, what are they always doing?”

Zelda shrugged and lifted his eyebrows, unsure what he meant.

“Looking for booty.”

Zelda immediately reddened. He face-palmed with both hands.

Ganondorf couldn’t help but laugh again. “I’m sorry! You asked and I warned you.”

“No, I deserve it,” Zelda said without removing his hands from his burning face. He was filled with regret despite admittedly finding it funny too. “I walked right into that one.”

“You kind of did, yeah.” Ganondorf got his mirth back under control, but continued regarding Zelda fondly. The royal heir wasn’t as short as Vaati, but their size difference still evoked the same feelings of protectiveness. “Are you always this easy to embarrass, or is it just me?”

Zelda’s face grew warmer. “Do you really have to ask that?”

“Sorry.” Ganondorf rubbed the top of Zelda’s head. It fit fully in his palm. The royal heir was blushing so much, he couldn’t resist. “It’s cute.”

Zelda squeaked as he inhaled and forgot to breathe at the same time. He ducked away from Ganondorf’s hand and pressed himself against the alley wall. Cursing his racing heart, his voice cracked as he exclaimed, “I’m not cute!”

“Gonna have to disagree with you acting like that,” Ganondorf said, pointing at Zelda. He was apparently trying to squish himself into the cracks between the wall’s bricks. “It’s pretty damn adorable, actually.”

“Din’s balls…”

Teasingly, Ganondorf asked, “Should I stop? I can compliment you in other ways.”

“Goddesses, no!” Zelda said, horrified by the thought of prolonging his embarrassment any longer. “I’m already dead. You’ve killed me.”

“That’s unfortunate.” Ganondorf smirked. “I was looking forward to traveling together.”

“Yeah, well, this corpse isn’t going anywhere.”

“Not unless I carry it, which I have no problem doing.”

Zelda heard Ganondorf move behind him and he jumped away from the wall. “Nope, nuh-uh, I’m alive now.” He marched towards the street. “Let’s get going.”

Ganondorf laughed. “All right, it’s a miracle.” As he followed, he pulled his hood over his head. Vaati gave a tiny grumble in protest and nuzzled back down into the folds of his cloak. His feathery tail ticked Ganondorf’s neck, and the Gerudo brushed it away with his finger. The Minish was evidently planning on sleeping through the morning.

“I want to make it to Helmhead Bridge by noon,” Zelda said while they walked, pointedly trying not to think about how Ganondorf called him cute or how he made a fool of himself. “You know the way from here?”

“Ish.” Ganondorf looked both ways, checking for guards, before they crossed a street. “Vaati showed me a map of the route yesterday.”

“Okay. Once we get out of town, the road will be easy to follow.”

“How do you know?” Ganondorf asked.

“I’ve snuck out of the castle a few times and memorized the ways out of central Hyrule. When you have a parent like my father, you’d understand.” Zelda paused. “Actually, I guess you would.”

“Yeah.” Ganondorf didn’t need the reminder of his mothers.

When they reached the more populated area of town on their way to the east gate, Ganondorf pulled his hood lower over his face. A passerby stopped to gape at Ganondorf while they crossed paths. The Gerudo stood head and shoulders above her and everyone else they passed. Several others paused at the sight of him. Most tried not to be so obvious, but one distracted man walked into a street lamp. Once the man was behind them, Ganondorf muttered, “Am I really so tall that people must make themselves look like idiots?”

“Huh?” Zelda craned his neck to look up at Ganondorf, then glanced back at the man while he regathered his wits and hurried on his way. “I mean…maybe?” He jogged to catch back up with Ganondorf’s long stride. “You’re kind of hard not to notice. You’re what, eight feet tall?”

“Seven-six,” Ganondorf answered, ducking under a sign hanging over a deli shop. “I was hoping to be done growing last spring, but I had a surprise growth spurt.”

“Really? What were you before?”

“Seven-two.” Ganondorf glanced down at Zelda. “For context, Nab is six-eight. My mothers say the average is between six and seven feet tall.”

“Huh.” Zelda marveled at this fact and found himself a little jealous. Though he didn’t necessarily need to be taller, being five-foot-nine, he would’ve appreciated extra help to bulk out his slender limbs. “Well, if that average is for women, it’d make sense that you’d be taller than them.”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t make it any less inconvenient when everything is Hylian-sized.”

“Right.” Zelda frowned, considering all the ways it could be a nuisance. The attention he was drawing was certainly near the top. News of an unusually tall Gerudo passing through Castle Town would eventually find its way to Impa. He just hoped that they would get to the Lost Woods and find Link before she could come to any conclusions.

When they neared the east gate, Zelda cast disguise spells on both himself and Ganondorf. He made the Gerudo’s physique seem more feminine, and he masked his own delicate facial features to appear more angular and masculine. The guards on duty still eyed Ganondorf due to his height, which Zelda couldn’t easily obscure, but neither of them asked them to halt. Zelda counted his breaths while they crossed the wall. On the other side, he relaxed his posture and dropped their disguises.


	28. “Why didn’t you mention any of their ancient tech stuff before?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Saturday, everybody!
> 
> The library where I work is getting ready to reopen to the public, and not gonna lie, it's been making me really anxious. I spent over an hour this evening just reading through all of the new guidelines for cleaning, physical distancing, what to say to patrons, etc. and I just keep feeling like I'm not going to be ready.
> 
> I know once I get into the building and actually start doing things the new way that it'll be fine, but still. I'm just kind of venting to give these feelings space and let you all know how I'm doing. Because overall I'm fine, really. I'm so lucky to have this job and that they're taking everything so seriously to keep care of us and the community. I'm lucky that I get to stay isolated with my sister and have a place that is comfortable to just exist. I can't even think about all of the people who don't have the bare minimum to maintain their mental/physical health.
> 
> Wherever you are, however things are going for you, I really hope that you're doing okay. If you're reading this, it means my fic has been able to help you cope in some small way - and knowing that makes me incredibly grateful you're here. Thank you.

Death Mountain and its red stone peaks stood in the distance before Ganondorf and Zelda. The royal heir could just barely see the tops of the trees in the Lost Woods over Rauru Hillside on their left. On their right, a single caravan from the Zora’s Doman was crossing Orsedd Bridge on its way to the castle. The dirt roads were otherwise clear. Trade between all the kingdoms was being hurt more by the sudden reappearance of monsters than Zelda realized.

Worrying about what this meant for Hyrule, Zelda contemplated the cost-benefit ratio of having the knights begin patrolling the roads. It would be expensive to deploy them, but central Hyrule’s economy depended on goods being circulated between their borders with their neighbors. If caravans were being delayed, withdrawn, or waylaid to this degree, it needed to be addressed.

“Now we just have to go north at the fork,” Ganondorf said, unwittingly interrupting Zelda’s political concerns. A gentle breeze swept over the grass field outside the castle’s walls. The Gerudo breathed deeply in the fresh air. “I can’t get over how nice the weather is over here.”

Zelda pulled himself out of his thoughts and looked up at Ganondorf. “Is the desert really that bad?”

“Not really if you’re prepared. It’s especially not bad in the Yiga’s hideout, but I can still appreciate it here.”

Zelda tilted his head. “Why’s the Yiga’s hideout not bad?”

“They have total climate control. Gerudo Town still uses aqueducts and ice from the Highlands to keep people cool, but my mothers figured out how to bring the ancient tech that’s in shrines to the hideout.”

“Really?” Zelda faltered for a second, surprised.

“Yeah. It’s why the Yiga follow them. They’re researchers as much as they are sorceresses, and they’ve put their findings to use.” Ganondorf shrugged. “It just sucks that their use is to steal Hyrule’s throne.”

“Oh.” Zelda took a moment to process what Ganondorf revealed. “That’s kind of terrifying. What else do they know about ancient technology?”

“A lot. They have other advanced things like plumbing and food storage, but they put all that into the base long before they kidnapped me. It was only in the last couple years that they’ve managed to reprogram some guardians and build entirely new ones.”

Zelda’s eyes widened, alarmed. “How?” He remembered Ganondorf had mentioned that his mothers had functional guardians under their control, but he had assumed they had been caught and contained like wild animals. The knowledge that they actually understood ancient tech enough to replicate and innovate on old designs was troubling news.

“Well, do you want the long or short answer?” Ganondorf said. “Because I get the basics of how ancient tech works, but I don’t know if I’d be very good at explaining it.”

Zelda looked more surprised. “They taught you about it?”

“Yeah.” Ganondorf shrugged, as if it wasn’t an impressive fact. “Not everything, of course, but enough to recognize weak points and how to operate a Guidance Stone. Vaati knows a lot more than me. He already had experience with magical engineering before he ended up with me and Nab, and he was able to spy on my mothers’ work and study their research notes.”

“Wow.” He glanced at Ganondorf’s shoulder, even though he couldn’t see Vaati within the folds of his cloak. “Can you give me the long answer then?”

“Um… Sure.” Ganondorf scratched his temple, wondering where to begin. He looked down at his shoulder. “Vaati, do you want to help explain?”

“If Kit can understand the basics, I’ll elaborate,” Vaati answered sleepily. “But I’m trying to rest. You’ve already made me teleport a lot this morning and it takes a lot of energy.”

“All right. I guess that gives me a place to start at least.” Ganondorf looked back down at Zelda. “You know how the tech labs in Hateno and Akkala rely on ancient furnaces to power their Guidance Stones?”

“Yeah?”

“Well, blue flame is like a stable form of electricity.”

“You mean lightning?” Zelda asked, tilting his head.

“I… yes,” Ganondorf said, realizing he didn’t want to explain another elementary science subject. “It’s magical energy in its most pure form, and because it’s not just electricity, it can carry a person’s intentions with its power. The furnaces were made to collect it, and stuff like Guidance Stones and the guardians were made to be able to contain and redirect blue flame to fulfill the intentions put into it. When the flame’s put inside them, it becomes concentrated and acts more like water. And like how water in a river can power a watermill as long as the mill doesn’t break down, blue flame doesn’t stop moving either.”

“Okay? If it’s that simple, why haven’t the Sheikah researchers brought ancient tech to the castle yet?”

“Probably because my mothers have been secretly sabotaging their efforts for years,” Ganondorf answered, surprising Zelda again. “A lot of the Yiga are still Sheikah by blood, so it wasn’t hard for them to worm their way into the tech labs, steal ideas, and plant false information under my mothers’ direction. Nearly all of the Yiga who don’t live in the base are either playing at being assistants or busy getting materials.”

“So they’re the reason almost all the guardian husks in Hyrule field are gone?”

“There and everywhere else. It was all salvaged and put into Karusa Valley.”

“Huh.” Zelda pondered this fact, amazed and intrigued. “Is it possible to make entirely new ancient materials, rather than just recycling old parts?”

“Yeah, but it takes a lot of blue flame to do so, and my mothers still haven’t figured out how to build a new furnace. They realized that even when they brought a flame from Hateno, using it over and over to light other flames weakened its strength. So, almost all of the blue flame they’re using had to be transported in weather-tight wagons directly from Hateno’s furnace.”

“Holy Farore.” Zelda marveled at the thought of shipping burning torches across such a distance. Even if it was put into something safer like a lantern, it was hard to imagine keeping a fire going for weeks at a time.

“Exactly. You can see how difficult even minor innovations would be under those circumstances. My mothers’ recent breakthroughs were only possible because they found a source of Malice after I came back from the castle. Unearthing it caused the blood moon, and it’s evidently easier to transport and just as powerful as blue flame. It’s just not pure. It’s tainted with evil intentions of its own, so I don’t think anyone can control it unless your intentions are also evil.”

Ganondorf looked over towards one of the five ancient pillars that had come out of the ground during Calamity Ganon’s reign of the castle. Its strange black stone dully reflected the sun’s light. Like claws surrounding the heart of Hyrule, they remained as a grim reminder of what had been lost. It was too easy to imagine his mothers’ using them somehow to continue what Calamity Ganon started.

While he regarded the ancient pillars, he said, “I don’t like thinking about whatever they must be building now, using Malice instead of blue flame. I know I won’t enjoy fighting it when it’s ready.” Ganondorf turned his attention back to the road. “I think that about all of the shit they’ve put me through, but this… They’ve already made me fight in raw Malice already. Facing it inside a new machine will definitely be worse.”

“You don’t think you can avoid it?” Zelda asked. “Even now that Vaati can take you basically anywhere?”

“I don’t think so.” Ganondorf shook his head. “I can’t leave without Nab, and there isn’t anywhere she can go as long as she’s petrified. After we revive her, even if I could get her somewhere safe, somewhere where the Yiga wouldn’t be able to find us, I wouldn’t want to live with that threat hanging over us for the rest of our lives.”

Zelda contemplated that choice for a moment, to live in hiding or to stay and fight. “You could still run and go back to fight them later.”

“Not without losing the element of surprise. If I stay close, I’m more likely to stay aware of everything they’re doing.”

“But you don’t know what they’re building now, and it doesn’t sound like you’re ever really prepared for what they throw at you. You’re just afraid of doing anything different because you know this way and not any other.”

Ganondorf frowned, but couldn’t dispute Zelda’s point. There was a perversely comforting familiarity in his mothers’ cycle of abuse. For every week of agonizing ‘lessons,’ there were still days when they occasionally acted like real mothers. They still celebrated holidays and his birthday. Sometimes their good days were as simple as having dinner together to talk about their latest research advancements. To just leave all of that wouldn’t necessarily be more dangerous, but it was filled with unknowns. He could count on continuing to survive his mothers’ endless challenges. But that was the problem. They _were_ endless, and he certainly didn’t know how the cycle would end unless he broke out of it somehow.

Zelda became similarly pensive when Ganondorf went quiet. While they continued walking, he wondered about the challenges Ganondorf had already survived and was somehow masochistically willing to keep facing. He had thought the knights’ training was grueling, but it was never really deadly. Even their final test, defeating a stalnox, was always kept under control by Sheikah and experienced knights.

After a while, Zelda put his hands into his pockets and glanced back up at Ganondorf. “Why didn’t you mention any of their ancient tech stuff before?”

“Hm?” Ganondorf looked down at Zelda. “What do you mean?”

“When you were telling me about the Yiga, you said they had guardians, but you didn’t say anything about how much they actually knew about it. You should’ve told me and Impa.”

“Oh.” Ganondorf frowned. “I guess I just wasn’t thinking it was relevant. You guys were asking about their defenses, not their bathrooms, and we were rushed because we were worried about getting a warning to Chief Saburi.”

“Yeah, but still. If we’re taking down the Yiga, getting them out of the research labs is just as important.”

“I mean, you’re not wrong. But I don’t know who is or isn’t a double-agent. It’d be impossible to know without taking out the hideout.”

“I doubt that. Impa would probably be able to figure it out.” Zelda played with the ends of his headscarf, recalling her perceptive skills. “She bends rules for me and Link a lot, but my father still trusts her because she’s so good at seeing things clearly.”

Ganondorf snorted, finding that ironic. “If he fully trusted her, he wouldn’t have called me a liar.”

“Trusting someone isn’t the same as always believing them. Even though I don’t want to admit it, he was right that a direct attack on the Yiga’s hideout wouldn’t have worked. It’s especially more true now that I know we had so much missing information. If Impa’s plan was actually to send in a stealth team without telling us, which is what Link thinks, that I also understand. You told Ghirahim that Chief Saburi was sending warriors.”

“I didn’t know what else to say,” Ganondorf answered, defensive. “If I didn’t give Ghirahim a reason to leave me, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you anything useful about the Yiga.”

“I know, and it’s fine. Even if you could have given him another excuse, stealth missions only work if they’re secret.” Zelda tugged on his scarf, sighing in frustration. “I just wish my father would have talked me though these reasons instead of grounding me. I figured out this much on my own – I could have worked with him to make a better plan. But because I want to be recognized as a man, he doubts my sanity.”

Ganondorf hummed, wryly amused at that thought. “Considering I know certifiably crazy people, I can assure you, you’re not.”

“Gee, thanks.” Zelda half-smiled. “Now if only you could tell him that.”

“I will, as soon as I get the chance.”

Zelda was taken aback by the candid confidence in his promise. From him, it didn’t sound like a joke or wishful thinking. It was just a fact that he would defend Zelda’s identity. Blushing, Zelda smiled and averted his gaze. He focused on the road ahead of them for a while.

After they took the left road at the fork, Zelda said, “When we go back home, you should show me your room and how the ancient tech in it works.”

“There isn’t much to see. Your room is more interesting.”

“So? It’s not like you have anything to hide, right?”

“No,” Ganondorf agreed, “but… How do I explain?” He pushed back his hood and rubbed the back of his head. “My room and here are like really separate places in my mind.” He glanced up at the sky. “Out here, I feel alive, like I can do anything. There…” He lowered his gaze. “It’s just kind of a place where I wait out the time between my mothers’ ‘lessons.’ I don’t want you to see the me that’s there instead of the one that’s here.”

Zelda went quiet as he considered Ganondorf’s words. Looking up at him, trying to meet his eyes, he asked, “Do you think I wouldn’t like that other you?”

“I don’t know.” Ganondorf met Zelda’s gaze briefly before looking away again. “Do you think I wouldn’t like the you that you are with your father?”

Sighing, Zelda faced the ground. “I don’t like that version of me, so I guess I see your point.”

Ganondorf merely hummed in acknowledgement, pensive. They continued in silence.


	29. “Why am I not enough for you?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't have much to say this week. I've been stuck with writer's block again, but I've been keeping busy with work stuff, self care, and playing Animal Crossing. I hosted a graduation ceremony on our island for my sister and our friends. I spent so many hours setting up everything, but it was time well-spent and everybody had a lot of fun.

Zelda and Ganondorf reached Helmhead Bridge just before noon. They had passed the giant bones of a stalnox on their way through Hyrule Park Forest, but otherwise the morning was uneventful. They stopped before they crossed the river so they could take a break. Neither of them fully trusted that their accomplices would be able to stall for them all day if they were summoned by their parents, for more wedding preparations or other challenges, so they agreed it was necessary to check in with them. It meant Vaati had to expend more magic than he wanted, making so many teleportation trips, but he affirmed it was still preferable to traveling by himself.

“Time to get up now, Vaati,” Ganondorf said as he reached into the folds of his cloak. He pulled out the Minish by pinching the back of his tunic. Vaati protested being removed from his warm nest with an undignified squeak and tried to cling onto Ganondorf’s cloak, but his tiny fingers were not strong enough.

“C’mon, you agreed to this.” Ganondorf set the Minish upright on his palm. He then pulled down veil covering his face, letting it hang around his neck. “You need to make another sigil so we can get lunch.”

“But I was comfy,” Vaati groaned, squinting because of the bright sunlight. He held his hand up to shield his eyes.

“We let you sleep all morning.” Ganondorf poked Vaati’s head and earned a tiny slap on his finger.

Vaati glared petulantly up at Ganondorf. “If you keep manhandling me, I’ll abandon you both here.”

“Hey,” Zelda said, “you should at least take me home if you’re going to leave him.”

“He’s not leaving either of us,” Ganondorf said, kneeling to put Vaati down on the ground. Pointing towards a cluster of broken stone blocks just off the road, he said, “The sigil should be safe over there.” The bridge had once been a more elaborate structure, but it was damaged during the calamity. Evidently it was deemed structurally sound enough for its restoration to be put off.

“Fine.” Vaati hopped off of Ganondorf’s hand and grew into his Hylian form. “Just don’t do any more gross lovey-dovey stuff while I’m gone.”

Both Ganondorf and Zelda blushed, though Ganondorf answered, “We were not.”

“Sure you weren’t,” Vaati muttered while he walked away.

Sighing, Ganondorf rubbed his forehead. He glanced back up at Zelda, who had turned away and was pretending to find a pebble on the road very interesting.

It was pointless to try to deny something was growing between him and the royal heir. Zelda’s attraction to him was plain as day, despite his awkwardness and the fact that he was supposed to be wed to Link. If there was a real relationship between Zelda and his fiancé, Ganondorf didn’t want to come between it. But if it was just a political engagement, he still wasn’t sure how he could fit in. He doubted he could be welcomed as a paramour.

Hylians were much more monogamous than Gerudo. Though the desert women often welcomed secondary partners, especially to raise children, such relationships were often questioned by people outside the desert. Multiple partners had been necessary when the Gerudo had been nomadic warriors, as it ensured children always had a caretaker when mothers died in battle, but now it was just a matter of personal choice. And, because men were generally seen not as only objects of conquest nowadays, more and more Gerudo couples were accepting their children’s Hylian fathers into their family in one way or another too.

Since Ganondorf was facing conflicting cultural differences, Zelda’s title as Hyrule’s princess, and his own unclear political position, he didn’t want to stumble into a faux pas by continuing to thoughtlessly flirt. No matter how much he enjoyed it, and how much he wanted to avoid the question, the potential consequences were too great to ignore. So, Ganondorf gathered his courage and stood back up.

“Kit?” Ganondorf asked, walking over to him. “Since Vaati brought it up, I have to ask – do you love Link?”

“Huh?” Zelda looked up abruptly at Ganondorf, taken aback by the question. “I… I mean, yeah, but not like a lover.” He held his elbows and faced the ground once more. “We’re like brothers.”

“Did your father arrange your marriage then?”

“Sort of. It was either Link or one of his other choices, so of course I was going to pick my best friend.” Zelda kicked a rock into the grass by the road. “He’s just trying to make me produce a new heir so he can try to raise a better princess.”

The idea disturbed Ganondorf, that the king could reduce Zelda to such a small role. He hoped Zelda was just exaggerating. “So, you’ve never even been allowed to explore other options?”

Zelda shook his head. “All the other men I might have courted only ever viewed me as a woman. I can’t be myself at royal functions.”

“Hm.” It was as Ganondorf expected, though it was nevertheless disheartening. He didn’t want to think they were falling for each other just because neither of them had ever had the opportunity before.

“I’m done,” Vaati called, waving them over to the rocks. “Hurry up and get over here if you want me to take you home.”

“We’re coming!” Ganondorf called back. Glancing back down at Zelda, he said, “As soon as we’re both done with lunch, I think we might be able to make it to the stable before nightfall.”

“Okay.” Zelda followed Ganondorf over to Vaati.

* * *

Vaati dropped off Ganondorf in his room and disappeared again. His room was as he left it: bed unmade with mismatched sheets and blankets, armor and weapon care supplies left on his desk, and drawings of verdant forests and sheltered ponds pinned to his walls. Ganondorf took off his cloak and hung it on a hook by his dresser. As he turned to leave his room and go to the kitchen just outside, he recoiled at the sight of Ghirahim. The demon stepped out of the shadowed doorway to the bathroom.

“I see you found yourself another little helper.” Ghirahim glanced towards the spot where Vaati had appeared beside Ganondorf before he left to take Zelda to the castle. His expression was coolly distant. “Are you enjoying your little excursions?”

“Uh…” Ganondorf silently cursed, stopping himself before he could give into the urge to play dumb and ask what Ghirahim meant. He knew better than to further insult either of their intelligences.

“Did you really think your faithful servant wouldn’t notice your absence?” Ghirahim rested his hip against the doorframe and crossed his leg over his ankle. He continued staring at Ganondorf. It was impossible to tell if he was actually expecting an answer.

Ganondorf stared at Ghirahim in return, mind racing as he tried to guess how much the demon had already figured out and how much he would have told his mothers. His immediate thought was that Ghirahim must have visited the castle again and learned Link was missing, but he couldn’t have known Ganondorf and Zelda were going to find him… could he? Ganondorf hadn’t been out of his room for that long last night, and Vaati had cast a silencing charm on Zelda’s room. But if Ghirahim had found his room empty this morning and went to Zelda’s to find it just as unoccupied, he had to have realized by now that they were up to something.

Ghirahim lifted up his hand. Looking at his nails, he asked, “Why am I not enough for you?”

“Huh?” The question threw Ganondorf off guard.

“I can forgive your attachment to Nabooru and understand the allure of the princess, but really, Ganny, why must you continue to scorn me?” Ghirahim dropped his hand. “You’re so _close_ to being yourself again. We could have the world to ourselves just as we did before, and yet you test my patience and refuse to remember.”

“I _can’t_ remember,” Ganondorf retorted. “I’m just trying to get Nabooru back.”

“Pray tell, enlighten me how you plan to do that?” Ghirahim got off the door frame and put his hand on his hip. “No mortal spell can lift petrification. Believe me, I checked. I searched every library that could have such knowledge. Only by the grace of the Goddesses will Nabooru be revived, but the princess hasn’t the power you seek, and the master sword is destined to kill you, as it always has.”

The idea that Ghirahim tried to revive Nabooru dumbfounded Ganondorf. He was even more bewildered by the demon’s knowledge about Zelda and the master sword. “How do you know?”

“I saw the princess with my own eyes and felt none of the light her namesake had,” Ghirahim answered, sauntering over to Ganondorf’s desk. “Hylia’s not in this world.”

The certainty in the demon’s statement made Ganondorf pause. His eyebrows knotted together as he considered its ramifications. “If that’s true, what makes you still so certain Demise is in me?”

Ghirahim sat on his desk and turned away. His bangs shrouded his face. Resting his palms on the edge of the desk, he said, “I believe mortals call it hope.”

Ganondorf wasn’t sure what to do with Ghirahim’s admission. The demon was behaving strangely serious for once in his life, and he couldn’t tell what could have brought it on except his reaction to losing Nabooru. Yet that couldn’t be the only reason. If the demon was just jealous of the attention he was giving Zelda, there was nothing stopping Ghirahim from taking the royal heir away from him. The demon could easily kidnap him again and hold him hostage or just outright kill him, and yet he didn’t seem to be planning anything that nefarious.

Ganondorf sat down on his bed and rested his elbows on his knees. Ghirahim was always impossible to read when the demon was hiding his true feelings; there was no point to keep frustrating himself. With a sigh, he asked, “Do my mothers know I was gone?”

“No. I don’t think they would care if I told them either.”

Ganondorf’s head jerked back up. “What do you mean?”

“Their alternative plans have finally borne fruit.” Ghirahim brushed aside his bangs and looked back at Ganondorf, his expression apathetic. “They do not need nor care about you anymore.”

“Alternative plans?” Dread filled Ganondorf. They were supposed to have been building a new challenge for him, not creating something worse. “What are they doing?”

“Last I checked, they were recharging their divine beast and making repairs.”

Ganondorf’s eyes widened as he sat forward. “A _divine beast?_ Are you serious?”

“They named it Vah Tempestrova.”

“Fuck.” Ganondorf pinched between his eyes.

“It’s supposed to resemble a two-headed snake, but I think it just looks like a mongrel abomination.” Ghirahim got off the desk and smoothed out his cape. “If you want the princess to survive, I recommend keeping her out of the castle. It won’t be long now before your mothers make Tempestrova fully functional.”

“You’re really going to let them do this? Destroy Hyrule?”

Ghirahim shrugged. “Once the smoke clears and the ash settles, I’ll take back my position as lord of the surface.”

“But that would kill thousands of people!” Ganondorf stood up. “What is the point of being a lord over a ruined kingdom?”

“It wouldn’t have to be ruined if you would take the throne.”

“How do you expect me do to that? Marry Kit?”

Ghirahim seemed surprised by the idea, but pursed his lips as he considered it. “That would be one way.”

Ganondorf face-palmed. “You’re the worst.”

“You ought to give me more credit for telling you this at all,” Ghirahim said. “They have given up on you, but I know you just need the right motivation. If you can gain enough strength to defeat your mothers’ divine beast, perhaps I can respect you as you are after all.”

“I can’t fight a divine beast on my own!”

“Then I suppose Hyrule will fall and I’ll wait for you to be reborn again.” Ghirahim strolled towards the door. Holding up his hands, he said, “What’s a century, anyway, when I’ve waited millennia?”

“You can’t leave yet,” Ganondorf retorted. “You haven’t even told me where it is or what it can do.”

“That’s part of the challenge, isn’t it?” Ghirahim turned back on his heel and smirked, regaining some of his impertinent humor. “Play the Hero’s game. Solve the puzzles given to you and fight. If you want to use me, we can even play hide and seek. I will find somewhere fitting for a weapon of my reputation and leave my sheath for you to collect. Doesn’t that sound fun?”

“No! I don’t have time to go traipsing across the country just so you can help me.”

“You will just have to make time somehow,” Ghirahim sang. “Good luck!” He waved goodbye before vanishing.

“Wait!” Ganondorf ran at him, but the black diamonds in Ghirahim’s wake already faded.


	30. “There are no legends to guide us now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally fixed some chapters (37 and 46) that were worrying me and causing writer's block in book 2, so the word count has gone up again. ^^; My edits have added 13,000 words so far. Also made myself tear up (again) while revising chapter 60, making it even more gut-wrenching. So that'll be fun for you all to read when we eventually get there.

When Vaati returned to Ganondorf’s room, he found the Gerudo at his desk with his head in his hands. His empty plate from lunch was left on his dresser, and in front of him was one of the books he had about the outside world.

“Sorry I didn’t return earlier,” Vaati said. “I got distracted by Zelda’s books while he had lunch.” Ganondorf didn’t raise his head, so Vaati walked over to his desk. “Something wrong?” The Minish held onto its edge and stood on his toes, lifting up his chin to see what the Gerudo was looking at. “Faron?”

“Yeah,” Ganondorf sighed. The pages of his book were opened to a map of the Faron region, where Ganondorf recalled Ghirahim had been discovered by the Yiga. The demon could have hidden his sheath anywhere in its dense jungles, if he had even gone back there at all. It seemed just as likely for him to have gone to the Spring of Power, one of the Zonai labyrinths, or more obscure locations like Skull Lake or Thyphlo Ruins. He just didn’t have enough information to narrow down the possibilities. Unlike the master sword, Ghirahim never had a special pedestal.

“Why’re you reading about it?”

“Because Ghirahim saw you and knows we left.” As Vaati’s expression became alarmed, Ganondorf continued, “He’s not telling my mothers anything, but it’s because we have bigger problems now.” He closed the book and stood from his seat. “Is Kit still at the castle?”

“No, I just took him back to the bridge.”

“Then let’s go so I don’t have to explain twice.”

Vaati nodded anxiously and cast the spell. When they appeared outside Helmhead Bridge, Zelda was playing with the ends of his headscarf and walking around the grass nearby.

“Kit,” Ganondorf called, waving him over to join him and Vaati. The Gerudo walked out to where the old stone road broke at the edge of Hylia River. He sat down on its bank, letting his legs hang over the steep drop. “Before we continue, I have bad news.”

“Oh boy.” Zelda hurried over and sat down perpendicular to Ganondorf on the bridge’s low wall. He gripped its edge and pressed the soles of his boots against it as he leaned forward. “What happened?”

While Vaati sat down on the bridge wall beside Zelda and returned to Minish size, Ganondorf faced the river. Smooth stones were visible beneath the rippling water. Its babble softly echoed under the low, ivy-covered arch of the bridge. Watching small fish swim against the current, Ganondorf explained how Ghirahim appeared in his room and told him about his mothers’ newest breakthrough.

“We are so screwed,” Zelda said, holding his forehead in his hand. “If the other divine beasts are still functional, they might be able to do something, but we’d have to find new pilots for them.” Ever since their purpose was fulfilled in defeating Calamity Ganon, all of the divine beasts had remained dormant and unusable. No one could even enter them to attempt their trials.

“I don’t know if we have time,” Ganondorf said. “Just getting the Malice for Tempestrova already caused the blood moon. What will it do when it’s complete?”

Zelda swung his legs over the wall and stood up on the bridge. “I don’t know, but I _do_ know that we need Link more than ever. Sitting around isn’t going to solve anything.”

“Right.” Admonished, Ganondorf dropped to his feet and climbed up the river’s slope to join Zelda. He reached down for Vaati and the Minish hopped onto his palm.

While Ganondorf moved his hand to put Vaati back onto his shoulder, the Minish said, “Wait.” The Gerudo stilled his hand. Vaati glanced back at Ganondorf before facing Zelda. “We need to let the castle know they’re in danger. If the divine beasts can be made ready, their region leaders need to begin work immediately.”

“But we’ve already wasted too much time talking when we need to find Link,” Zelda said. “If I go back to the castle, Impa will be furious, and my father won’t even believe Ganondorf.”

“We can’t leave them unprepared,” Vaati pressed. “It’s not a guarantee that we will find Link, and even if we do, I don’t think one man will be enough to fix all of this. It shouldn’t take more than an hour to talk to Impa.”

“Yeah, but how am I supposed to help you guys find Link if I get stuck in the castle? She’ll double the guard if she learns I snuck out!”

Ganondorf leveled a skeptical look at Zelda. “Are you saying that because you know she would or because you don’t want her to yell at you for going behind her back again?”

“N-no!” Zelda lowered his head. In a lower voice, he said, “Maybe.”

Sighing, Ganondorf faced Vaati. “Take us back to the castle.” He looked back down at Zelda. “We don’t have to tell Impa that we were traveling together. I could have made this trip on my own after Vaati found you.”

Zelda crossed his arms. “I don’t want to lie to her either,” he muttered.

“Then you can tell her the truth. I’m just giving you an out to save you some grief.”

Zelda nodded mutely. He would decide if he’d fess up depending on how Impa reacted to Ganondorf and Vaati’s appearance.

* * *

Zelda and Ganondorf waited for Impa to come to Zelda’s room in his sitting area. Zelda was at his usual spot on the sofa. Ganondorf sat on the rug again, but he stole a pillow from the sofa to use as a floor cushion. Vaati had taken the side chair. He was flipping through one of Zelda’s books, but his heavy-lidded eyes showed he was struggling to stay awake.

The three of them didn’t have to wait long after Zelda sent his summons. When Impa came into Zelda’s room, she faltered at the sight of Ganondorf and Vaati. Her expression hardened. She closed the door behind her, pausing a moment as if to recollect her patience, and walked up to the sitting area. Eyeing Vaati, she asked Zelda, “Am I to trust this new stranger?”

“Yeah.” Zelda gave his caretaker a sheepish smile.

Vaati put his book on the coffee table and jumped down from the side chair. Inclining his head to the Sheikah, he said, “My name is Vaati, the Minish sorcerer, not the demon sealed by the four sword.” He gestured to Ganondorf and continued, “I’ve known Ganondorf and Nabooru since they were small children, and yesterday I came to the castle to request Kit’s help.”

As Vaati and Ganondorf summarized the rest of their situation, Zelda hopped in and admitted that he went with Ganondorf on their way to the Lost Woods. Impa’s expression darkened, but she allowed them to continue their story.

Once Ganondorf finished telling her about his mothers’ plans, Impa sighed. “I was afraid they had something to do with the blood moon.” She faced Ganondorf. “The king was certain it was your doing.”

“I’m nothing more than a man,” Ganondorf said. “If there was that kind of evil inside me, my mothers and Ghirahim would have already freed it.”

“I believe you,” Impa answered. “The trouble is reasoning with the king. He’s been paranoid about history repeating itself ever since your real mother was killed. It’s why he’s so unyielding with his refusal to acknowledge Zelda as a man. The kingdom has only ever been saved by a Princess and her Hero. Without a princess, he sees no hope for our survival.” She leaned back in her seat. “Now that darkness is once again descending upon us, I can’t help but share his worry. All of our key actors do not fit their previous roles. There are no legends to guide us now.”

Ganondorf breathed a laugh. “Good thing I like improv then.” He regarded both Impa and Zelda. “Ghirahim told me to play the Hero’s game. If Link can’t fulfill his role, I’ll do it. I just don’t want to do this alone.”

“You won’t be alone,” Zelda said. “I’ll have your back.”

Impa looked between Zelda and Ganondorf as the pair regarded each other. Her shoulders fell. She lowered her head and rubbed her temples with both of her hands. It looked like she was either praying for guidance or debating with herself how to proceed.

After a moment, Impa sighed. She lifted back up her head. “Okay,” she conceded, giving them a small, exasperated smile. “You three can continue to look for Link.”

Zelda perked up. “Really?”

“Yes. It can’t be a coincidence that the Goddesses have brought you together and put you on this path,” Impa answered. “I’m putting my faith in them to see you to its end safely.”

Impa sat forward. “However,” she added, giving Zelda a pointed look, “ _do not_ try my patience again. You don’t deserve this leniency.” Zelda hunched in his shoulders, chastened. “If the fate of our kingdom was not at stake, I would not be allowing you to endanger yourself like this. Yet the truth remains; you, Link, and Ganondorf hold the pieces of the Triforce. Your namesakes have never worked together, but history has proven that when the Triforce is united, anything is possible. We can potentially use its power to restore peace.”

Both Ganondorf and Zelda looked down at their hands, forgetting that was a possibility. Zelda faced Impa again. “But our pieces have never done anything.”

“They weren’t needed before. Perhaps they will awaken now that the time has come.”

Zelda considered it. “I hope you’re right.” He then rose from his seat. Facing Ganondorf and Vaati, he said, “Let’s go. We still have time to get to Woodland Stable before nightfall.”

“Do we have to?” Vaati grumbled, not moving from his curled up position on the side chair. He had made himself more comfortable towards the end of their discussion since their already long day was catching up with him.

“Yes.” Zelda glanced towards his windows. The sun was low, but they still had at least three more hours until it set. “The longer we take to get to the Lost Woods, the worse chance we have to find Link in time.”

“No need to worry about that,” Impa said. “One of our Rito messengers can drop off Vaati outside the entrance within the hour.”

Vaati opened his mouth to protest, but Zelda answered first, “Oh, that would be perfect!” Whenever the castle needed to send urgent letters, they always sent the avian race with high level hasty elixirs. It was how they could exchange correspondence even with people as far away as Saburi within days rather than weeks. To mail the Minish would be just as easy.

As Impa rose, she gestured for Vaati to follow her. “I can take you to their office now.”

The Minish hung his head and got up, resigned to continue exerting himself. Ganondorf noticed his reluctance, but figured Vaati knew his own limits and was just being cranky.

Looking back Ganondorf and Zelda, Impa said, “As soon as I send Vaati on his way, I will speak with the king and share what we’ve learned.”

“Won’t he try to stop you from letting me go?” Zelda asked.

“Almost certainly, but I imagine you’ll already be on your way with Vaati before he can come here.” Impa smiled demurely. “Just find Link and return home safely before he has me tried for treason.”

“Will do!” Zelda gave Impa a mock salute as she left.


	31. “Wouldn’t be my first time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We reached 150 kudos! Thank you everyone who's read, commented, and/or liked this story so far! I can't believe we're almost halfway through already.

“Well, this isn’t creepy at all,” Zelda said as he appeared with Ganondorf outside the entrance to the Lost Woods. Vaati had already nestled into the inner folds of Ganondorf’s cloak, but he tried to remain awake as he peeked out and watched their surroundings.

Ganondorf snorted. “You think this is scary?” He waved his hand through the thin fog. “I’ve had showers with more steam than this.”

“It looks thicker up ahead.” Zelda looked up at Ganondorf. “Should we try to find the Korok Forest first? The Great Deku Tree will probably be able to help us find Link.”

“Might as well, but I don’t know if we’ll be able to see the Koroks,” Ganondorf answered. “They’re supposed to be invisible like Minish.”

“I think you should be able to see them since I let you see me,” Vaati said, looking ahead. “The question is how to navigate the woods.” He turned towards Zelda. “Would Link have tried to follow his predecessors’ route when he came here?”

“Probably. I don’t know how else he would have tried to go through.”

Ganondorf frowned and considered their options. “Should we try to do the same?” He tipped back his head to look at Vaati on his shoulder. “What other ways have Heroes navigated the woods?”

“Well, in a few timelines, the woods were thicker and had to be navigated through a maze of tree hollow tunnels. Other times, they had to follow directions given to them by locals, ghosts, or by the trees themselves.”

Zelda made a peeved expression. “So unless we can get the trees to talk to us, we’re basically just left with wandering around blind.”

“Wouldn’t be my first time,” Ganondorf muttered, remembering the Sacred Realm’s crystalline forest. He had also survived too many obstacle courses to count that had simulated similar environments.

A crow cawed nearby, making Vaati turn his head towards the sound. “I can ask the animals here if they can help us. It’s just a matter of whether or not we can approach them without scaring them off.”

“You can talk to them?” Zelda asked.

“To a limited degree, yes. Most animals understand Minish. The difficult part would be finding one that’s willing to answer me.”

“Huh.” The idea fascinated Zelda. He didn’t know about Ganondorf’s track record with animals, but Zelda knew he had no knack for charming wild creatures. They always ended up running away from him. “If we have to split up to try, I don’t want to. What if we lose each other?”

“Then we’ll just have to hold hands, I guess,” Ganondorf said. Zelda blushed at the suggestion. Ganondorf rolled his eyes and smiled. “Or you can hold onto my cloak.”

“I don’t want to accidentally let go, though.” Zelda took off his red headscarf. Holding out one end, he said, “Give me your hand so I can tie us together.”

“Okay.” Ganondorf offered his right hand. In case they got attacked, he wanted to leave his dominant hand open to use one of his twin blades. He was keeping them under his cloak despite that they were responsible for grievously wounding his sister because he had no other weapons.

After Zelda tied his scarf to Ganondorf’s wrist, he walked around to Ganondorf’s other side and offered his left hand for the Gerudo to tie off the other end.

Zelda looked back into the fog once he was done. “Alright, well. Let’s try to follow the fires first.” He held up his hand and summoned a ball of fire. “We’re not going to get anywhere if we keep standing around talking,” he said, heading into the fog towards the nearest brazier.

“Okay, I’m coming,” Ganondorf said, following beside Zelda. “But shouldn’t we find a torch instead? You’re going to exhaust yourself if we rely on your magic.”

Zelda shrugged. “Doubt it. I’ve never been able to reach a limit.”

“Really?” Both Ganondorf and Vaati looked surprised. Nabooru and the Minish frequently ran out of energy whenever they had to extensively heal Ganondorf, and Vaati was only currently keeping up with teleporting them so frequently because he was resting between their trips.

“Yeah,” Zelda said. “A little spell like this is easy. The only reason my disguise spell failed when I first met you is because I lost concentration on it.”

“Hm.” Ganondorf mulled over this new fact. “Has your magic always been so powerful?”

“Ever since I began learning,” Zelda answered.

“Weird.”

“Is it?” Zelda looked up at Ganondorf before he regarded his flame again. “I always figured it had something to do with being Hylia’s descendant, even though I never did get the hang of healing or sealing magic.”

“But that can’t be right. Ghirahim told me you don’t have Hylia’s power.”

“I don’t?” Zelda’s eyebrows rose as he glanced back up at Ganondorf. “Not even a little?”

“He didn’t sense any of her light in you.”

“Huh.” Zelda’s eyebrows furrowed. They reached the second brazier, so they turned with the wind. “I guess that’s why I don’t feel like a girl then.” He half-smiled. “I don’t even have a woman’s soul.”

“What would let you have that kind of power?” Ganondorf looked down at Zelda’s hand and the fire in his palm. “Your Triforce?”

“You think?” Zelda turned his wrist to examine his mark. “It doesn’t feel any different.”

“I can’t think of anything else that could give you limitless magic.”

Zelda lowered his hand again and continued watching his fire. It was getting harder to tell which way the embers were going. “If you’re right, why am I able to use it and not you and Link?”

“I don’t know.”

They went quiet as they walked, both pensive. The fog grew thicker until it seemed to envelop them completely. The white pall covered both the grey grass and toothy, dead trees. Ganondorf could barely even see Zelda’s fire beside him.

Then Ganondorf stepped into open air. Gravity somersaulted. Vertigo overtook him. Blinding light seared his eyes.

The grey grass reappeared beneath his feet. Ganondorf lurched, gasping, as his body reoriented itself.

“The fuck?” The fog beneath him was thin as steam again. Ganondorf straightened himself. Turning to his left, he asked, “Kit, you okay?” But Zelda had disappeared from his side. The scarf holding them together wasn’t on his wrist. “Shit!” Ganondorf recoiled and lunged forward, as if it had just fallen off and he needed to catch it, but his hands grasped empty fog.

“What are you doing?” Zelda asked, baffled as he held out the end of his scarf. The brazier from the entrance was burning behind him. “Do you not want me to tie this to you?”

“I…” Ganondorf gaped at him, overcome with déjà vu. “No? I mean I was fine with it.” He noticed his left hand felt faintly warm and looked back down at it. “The fuck?”

Vaati looked hard at the bewildered Gerudo from his shoulder. “Gan, what’s wrong?”

“I don’t know. We were walking and then I think I tripped…”

“No, we weren’t,” Vaati said, more concerned. “We haven’t gone into the woods yet.”

“But we did!” Ganondorf looked at Vaati and then Zelda. Both of them stared at him with concern. “You summoned a fire and we were following it, and we were talking about your magic and how I thought it was your Triforce and not Hylia’s power.”

Zelda blinked. “You—My what now? My Triforce doesn’t do anything.”

“I know, that’s what you said before, but there can’t be another way for your magic to be limitless. How can you not remember? The woods just brought us back here and—”

“I don’t think this was the woods,” Vaati said. “It sounds like you went back in time.”

Ganondorf stared at Vaati, struggling to process the possibility. “But how?”

“I’m not sure. What happened before you came back here?” Vaati asked. “Did you get lost?”

“I didn’t think we were, but the fog got really thick.”

“You must have strayed too far from the path.” Vaati leaned back in Ganondorf’s cloak. More to himself, he mused, “The bigger question is what caused the time loop. Could it have been possible after all? A time portal – here, all along – despite everything I tried…”

Zelda continued looking baffled. “Aren’t the woods just supposed to take you back to the entrance when you go too far?”

“That’s what I thought too,” Vaati answered, holding his chin. “But if it’s a temporal transportation rather than physical, it would appear the same to the traveler.”

Ganondorf looked at Vaati in disbelief. “So you’re saying I’m going to be stuck in a time loop until we can navigate this place?”

“As you’re the only one to remember a foregone future, it would appear that way,” Vaati answered.

“Oh fuck,” Ganondorf groaned, holding his forehead.

“I guess Ghirahim wasn’t kidding when he said you’d have to play the Hero’s game,” Zelda said. “Do you think all his reincarnations got infinite re-dos every time they came here?”

“It better not be infinite,” Ganondorf said. “I don’t want to be stuck here doing this over and over again.”

“Then it’s your job to make sure we don’t get lost the same way over and over.”

“Fine. Make your fire and I’ll watch which way it goes this time.”

“All right.” Before he did, Zelda held out his scarf again. “Do you still want to be tied together?”

“Clearly it didn’t help, but sure.” Ganondorf let Zelda tie them together again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact about Vaati's musing on time portals - he did in fact try to build one at the Yiga hideout to try to get back to his own time, but since he didn't have Ezlo's research notes, he was never able to recreate the accident that brought him to the Wild Era or build another scrying lens. He also ended up father than he had ever looked during the years he spent scrying on all the Heroes' adventures, which is why he didn't see himself in the future. The viewing lens was only barely able to see BotW Link, and that was just because Calamity Ganon caused such a rift in space-time that it worked as a kind of magnet to draw the viewing eye of the scrying lens. (It's easier in general to see the years when the Triforce cycle repeats than years where there's peace).


	32. “How do you plan to save Hyrule once again?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey friends! This chapter was one of the ones I had to divide into two chapters during revision because I didn't want to rush the emotional beats.

It didn’t take long for Ganondorf to return once again to the start of their path into the Lost Woods. He swore loudly and startled both Vaati and Zelda. When Ganondorf checked the sun’s position, it was still exactly as low as it was when they first arrived, even though it felt like at least an hour had passed. Now that he knew what was happening, however, it didn’t take him very long to explain it to his confused companions and go back in. The third time it happened, Ganondorf saved his breath and didn’t even bother trying to explain again. He just pretended to have spaced out for a minute and let Zelda retie the scarf connecting them.

Ganondorf continued pretending nothing was wrong as the fire kept leading them astray, even though Vaati and Zelda could tell something was bothering him. He barely continued talking to them during each pass through the woods. There were only so many ways he could stand having the same exact conversation.

“Okay, stop,” Ganondorf said abruptly as Zelda’s fire flickered.

“Huh?” Zelda looked up at Ganondorf. “What’s wrong?”

The wind was becoming erratic again, just like it did the two previous times he was taken to the entrance. “We’re going too far.”

“We are?” Zelda looked around, but could see no difference. “How can you tell?”

Ganondorf sighed heavily and bit back the urge to snap at Zelda. He knew the royal heir didn’t mean to sound patronizing, given it was yet again his first time through the woods, but his constant doubt only made the repetitive process worse. “I just know, okay?” He continued staring at Zelda’s fire, debating whether he should try waiting for the wind to make up its mind or to pick a new direction.

“What are we waiting for?” Zelda asked. “Let’s just keep going the way we were going.”

“No.” They had continued straight the last time and went right before then, so their only option was to try left now. “We’re going this way,” Ganondorf said, heading off.

“What? Why?” Zelda hesitated to follow. “The wind isn’t going that way.”

“It sure isn’t pointing any other direction right now.”

“Why’re you acting like this?” Zelda caught up as the scarf holding them together ran out of slack. “You’ve been moody ever since we got here.”

“If we can get through this fucking forest, I’ll tell you.”

“Why not now?”

“Because,” Ganondorf retorted. “Just watch the fire and tell me when the wind becomes regular again.”

Zelda went quiet. Ganondorf didn’t want to imagine his hurt expression, but he did not have the patience to repeat himself. It was hard enough keeping track of their path. Every time the wind refused to cooperate, he had to pick a direction at random and hope it would carry him to the next point for the wind to even out again. If it didn’t, he had to restart the process. There should have been an easier way, or at least some guide or markers he kept missing, but he couldn’t find anything else that worked.

It felt like days passed before they eventually noticed pink flower petals in the grass. The fog thinned out and sunlight became visible. Ahead of them was a massive, hollow tree trunk leading into a verdant glade.

“Oh, thank fuck!” Ganondorf exclaimed. “Come on!”

“Ah!” Zelda hurried after Ganondorf as he ran ahead. “We’re still tied together, dummy! Why’re you rushing?”

Ganondorf slowed down and faced Zelda. “I don’t know how long that felt to you, but that was the longest fucking ‘lesson’ of my life.” He continued walking towards a sunny glade.

“Huh? We were in there for hardly even maybe thirty minutes.”

“Yeah, no, you were. I wasn’t.” Ganondorf breathed a sigh of relief as they came out on the other side of the hollow tree trunk. Before them stood the master sword in its pedestal. Sunlight streamed down, glinting off its indigo guard and blue-tinted steel. Behind it was the roots of the biggest tree Ganondorf had ever seen.

“What do you mean?” Zelda asked before he became distracted by the sword. “Whoa… Is that it?”

“If it’s not, I’m going to kill somebody.” Ganondorf pulled off the scarf connecting him and Zelda and walked to the pedestal. It was a wonder that there was still daylight in the Korok Forest and not just moonlight and fireflies. If he had been transported physically instead of temporally, it should have been the dead of night. It certainly felt like he lost a night of sleep.

Vaati peeked out of Ganondorf’s cloak. “We’re being watched,” he whispered, looking around. “Maybe hold back on your threats and vulgar language?”

“We are?” Ganondorf paused to check his surroundings. He thought he saw something move, but it disappeared behind a bush.

“The Koroks. We’re making them nervous.”

“What are they going to do?” Ganondorf asked, unconcerned as he continued forward. “Put me in a dungeon?”

Zelda looked uneasy. “They might just kick us out.”

“Well, they’re going to have to wait until I’m done talking to their grandpa.” Ganondorf stepped onto the stone pedestal and looked up at what seemed to be a face on the gigantic tree’s trunk. “Hey! You’re the Great Deku Tree, right?”

The face moved and gave a great yawn. “Hm? Who is that? Did I doze off again?” The long branches that made his eyebrows shifted as the Great Deku Tree focused on the people before him. “Oh, so it’s you. I was wondering if it would be you or Link who would come to me first.”

Zelda stepped forward. “Link did come here first. Does that mean he’s not in the Lost Woods?”

“Hrm?”

“We came here because Link’s missing,” Ganondorf said. “Can you ask your Korok kids to go find him and bring him here?”

“Missing, you said? Oh my…” The Deku Tree looked past his guests to the Koroks, who were poking out from their hiding places behind trees, bushes, and boulders. They exchanged a wordless conversation, and a handful of Koroks took off with their flying whirligigs. “My children are fetching him now. Tell me, young ones… How do you plan to save Hyrule once again?”

“That’s what we came here to ask you!” Zelda said. “I don’t know what we’re supposed to do. Ganondorf’s mothers are too strong, and our Triforces don’t even work.”

“Not all is as it seems,” the Deku Tree answered. “Ganondorf appears to realize this.”

“Huh?” Zelda turned towards the Gerudo. “What does he mean?”

Ganondorf looked down at Zelda. “You know how I was saying it didn’t feel like thirty minutes to me?” He held up his left hand to show Zelda his mark. “This isn’t the Triforce of Power.” He pointed at Zelda’s hand. “You have it.”

“What?” Zelda lifted his hand and looked at it incredulously. “That can’t be right. Hyrule’s royal family has always either had Wisdom or the whole Triforce.” He faced Ganondorf again. “Are you saying you have it?”

“No, I ended up with Courage,” Ganondorf answered, pointing at himself. “It let me navigate those cursed woods by trying again and again and _again_ , no matter how many times we got lost. I got moody and stopped talking because we kept repeating the same conversations over and over.” He gestured back to Zelda. “Power lets you use limitless magic. When Link gets here, I bet we’ll find out what he’s been able to do with Wisdom without realizing it.”

“So we’ve all had the wrong Triforces this entire time?” Zelda asked, struggling to wrap his mind around the revelation. He looked back up at the Deku Tree. “Did you know?”

“Yes,” he answered. “I have watched over Hyrule since time immemorial.”

Ganondorf faced the Deku Tree. “So that means you know what my mothers have done, right? Everything they did to me?” His heartrate picked up in restrained anger. “You saw all that?”

A note of hesitation entered the Deku Tree’s voice, but he said, “Yes.”

Pulling his hands into fists, Ganondorf asked, “Why couldn’t you have told me then? Sent a Korok or _anything_?” He took a step forward. “My mothers have been killing me almost every day of my life, and you watched me die and fight and die again, and did _nothing_?”

Zelda’s eyes widened in horror. The Deku Tree’s branches sagged with remorse. “My role is to watch. Only you have the strength to fight your battles.”

“I was a child!” Ganondorf shouted. “Not even that! A fucking toddler.” His anger mixed with grief. He thrust up his hand at the Deku Tree. “This thing has only allowed me to suffer my entire damn life, and I didn’t even get to know?” He tightened his hand into a fist and left his middle finger up. “Fuck you and your great wisdom!”

“Gan,” Vaati said in a cautioning tone.

Ganondorf ignored the Minish. “You’re nothing but an overgrown weed! If you were actually a ‘great’ anything, you wouldn’t have knowingly left two kids with fucking abusive kidnappers! Now they’re trying to cause another Calamity, and because you sat around sleeping instead of doing anything, it’s now somehow my fucking job to fix it? I hope you get burned down, you giant, rotting, piece of—”

“Ah!” Zelda stumbled as Link tackled him in a hug. He stared at the knight in shock. “Link? Oh my Goddesses!” He wrapped his arms around him in return and held him tight. “You’re okay!” His relief felt like whiplash after Ganondorf’s outburst.

Ganondorf reigned in his fury and faced Link and Zelda. Once the two parted, he noticed with muted surprise that the knight was shorter than the royal heir.

“I was so worried about you,” Zelda said, holding Link’s shoulders. He looked over the knight to check him for injuries, but only his clothes were marred with dirt. “What happened?”

 _“I got lost and Lost Woods wouldn’t let me escape. Stal monsters attacked me at night, but I managed.”_ Pointing to the Sheikah slate on his belt, Link added, _“I didn’t run out of food.”_

“I’m glad.” Zelda hugged Link again.

“Uh, what did he just say?” Ganondorf asked, baffled by how Link moved his hands and fingers so quickly and purposefully.

Vaati poked his head back out of his cloak. “I can translate,” he said, and he repeated what Link said for Ganondorf.

Link did a double-take at the appearance of the Minish. Zelda laughed. “That’s Vaati. He was the bad guy in the Picori stories we read as kids, apparently, but he’s not evil now.”

 _“So, he’s a demon?”_ Link asked, more confused.

“No,” Vaati answered, annoyed at Zelda’s poor introduction. “I’m Minish. That demon and I are two separate entities.”

Uncertainly, Link held up the sign for _okay._ He looked like he wanted to ask why a character from a fairy tale was a real person, but didn’t know how to phrase the question without sounding insulting.

Zelda understood his dilemma and couldn’t help but laugh again. “Yeah, it’s weird. Everything’s gone crazy. We were just talking to the Deku Tree about everything that’s happened, actually, and did you know? None of us had the Triforces we thought we had.”

Though Link still seemed undecided on what to think of Vaati, he signed, _“I know. I realized it after I got lost.”_

“Really?” Zelda’s shoulders slumped. The realization that he was the only one who didn’t figure it out on his own annoyed him.

 _“Yes.”_ Link smiled ruefully. _“Wisdom is useless in a forest with no logic.”_

“Of course.” Zelda shook his head.

_“Don’t feel bad. What have I missed?”_

“Uh, well, where do I begin?” Zelda rested his hands on his hips, glancing at the ground as if it would give him a place to start.

“Can we wait until after we get back to the castle?” Ganondorf asked. “I don’t want to stay in this forest any longer than we need to.”

“Oh, yeah, that’s probably a good idea.” Zelda glanced at Link. “Okay with you?”

Link nodded. _“Ganondorf is going to pull the master sword, right? Since he’s the one with the Triforce of Courage?”_

“Good question.” Zelda had still been assuming Link would be the one to get the master sword after they found him. He looked up at Ganondorf as Vaati finished translating Link’s question. “Do you want to try?”

Ganondorf frowned, considering it. “I guess I should if I’m playing the Hero.”

The Great Deku Tree spoke up. “If you wish to draw the sword, know that it stands as a test to any who dare possess it. You will surely lose your life where you stand if it deems you unworthy.”

Ganondorf shot the Deku Tree a sharp look. “Don’t you fucking start with me again.” He turned towards the master sword.

Though its pedestal and the lighting around it lent a holy air, the master sword itself didn’t look particularly impressive. Ghirahim in his sword form seemed like a more formidable weapon, in his opinion. If he didn’t need it to unpetrify Nabooru, Ganondorf would have rather left the sacred blade where it was. But since it was necessary and he probably wasn’t going to be able to fight his mothers with Ghirahim, Ganondorf stepped forward.

Before he could lay his hands on the hilt, however, Ganondorf felt his left hand warm and gasped. A phantom pain crushed his chest. The sensation was so sudden and strong, it nearly seemed real. Or that it had been real. “Shit,” Ganondorf breathed. He stepped back again

“Only a hero who is pure of heart may wield the master sword,” the Deku Tree stated.

“So, what?” Ganondorf asked in disbelief. “It’s not going to let me pull it because I’m not good enough?”

The Deku Tree merely sighed, seeming to sink slightly lower into the ground.

Ganondorf balled his hands into fists. “Fuck this bullshit,” he swore under his breath. “Been trying to be good nearly my whole damn life, but sure, tell me it’s not enough.” He stomped off the pedestal.

Link looked at Zelda. _“Should I try after all?”_

“I don’t know.” Zelda watched Ganondorf hit his fist against a tree and rest his forehead on it. “If he just died trying to pull that thing, I don’t want it to kill you too. I don’t think Wisdom will give you re-dos like Courage.”

_“Maybe we can ask the sword to help us.”_

“Would it listen?”

 _“Don’t know.”_ Link pursed his lips, thoughtful. _“Your great-grandparents could hear its voice. One of us must be able to talk with it.”_

“I guess it’s worth a shot.” Zelda walked up to the master sword with Link. “Um, master sword?” He waited a moment, as if he would get an answer, but none came. He tried again, “I know you’ve always been used to kill Ganondorf’s namesakes, but he’s not evil anymore. We’re trying to stop his mothers from attacking the castle and killing a ton of people, so we really could use your help.” Zelda looked back at Link and shrugged, not sure what else to say. He felt ridiculous even trying to talk to the sacred weapon.

Link rested his hand on the master sword’s pommel and closed his eyes. After a minute, he looked back up. _“I can’t hear it, but I feel Ganondorf should try to forgive Great Deku Tree and try again.”_

“But he’s right to be angry,” Zelda answered. “I would’ve liked to know we all had the wrong Triforces too.” He pulled his braid around and fiddled with its end. “It might’ve made my father actually accept me.”

_“We don’t know that for sure. Great Deku Tree can’t protect everyone. Koroks are playful spirits, not guardians. Not many people can even see them.”_

Zelda sighed. “I guess.”

 _“Besides,”_ Link added, _“you can both stay angry and still forgive Great Deku Tree. You’re mad because you’re hurt by your parents, but it is not Great Deku Tree’s fault that they did wrong. Blaming him does not change the past.”_

Sighing more heavily, Zelda said, “I hate it when you’re right.” Link smiled ruefully. Zelda turned towards Ganondorf. “I’ll go talk to him.”

 _“Good luck.”_ Link waited by the master sword while Zelda walked over to the Gerudo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I did go very meta and gave Gan the power to save scum, lmao. Wisdom and Power have such clear abilities in LoZ lore, but Courage's abilities are never explicitly explained. So, I just went with video game logic and twisted that to fit my needs.


	33. “I’m not the hero you remember, but this is my fight.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning - personal rant: World's burning down again and I've had an extra shitty day personally because my dad decided to visit unannounced and uninvited to my sister's birthday this weekend, driving 36 hours straight to get here. (Like me, he has ADHD, but he doesn't treat his with anything, and it makes it really hard for him to behave himself.) And if any of you remember me mentioning my mom has paranoid schizophrenia, stunts like this is extremely triggering for her to fucking blow up at everything. So, yeah. Not fun dealing with two parents who can't keep their shit together, _especially_ when my dad isn't really treating COVID-19 seriously. The cherry on top? One of my dogs bit the shit out of my arm this evening too, so now I have bruises. (Thankfully she didn't break skin this time, at least). I just want to focus on writing and nothing else, but I'm so fucking stressed out, I can't seem to do anything but zone out on social media, which is just full of cops fucking murdering Black people now. 
> 
> **If you have any positive news or kind thoughts to share, I'd really appreciate the distraction. Tell me about your pets, or my characters, or anything else that makes you happy.**

Ganondorf sat down at the base of a tree a short distance away from the master sword’s pedestal. His head leaned back against its trunk. He left his elbows on top of his propped up knees. The thick grass was soft but damp beneath him. Its chill seeped through his cloak and thin desert pants, emphasizing just how far from the desert he was he was. Kit’s voice carried indistinctly to him as the royal heir talked with the mute knight. Vaati thankfully remained quiet on his shoulder, giving Ganondorf space for his brooding thoughts.

As Ganondorf watched a pair of warm darners flit about a pond illuminated by a glowing bean lamp, he tried not to think about how Ghirahim was right after all. The master sword had killed him just as the demon had said it would. He wasn’t going to be able to save his sister either. It was only through the curse of his Triforce that he hadn’t stayed dead.

Going through the Lost Woods so many times was what had made it clear, the fact that he hadn’t actually survived all of his mothers’ trials. He felt like an idiot for not figuring it out sooner. Déjà vu had been a constant feeling in his life. All of the intrusive thoughts he got about fatal injuries every time he faced his mothers, it was achingly obvious now that they were the echoes of his deaths. He didn’t know what he hated more, the thought that he wasn’t supposed to have managed to live this long, or the fact that he was only still alive because of a relic he never wanted. Everything he endured to survive, it all felt so meaningless now. If he wasn’t able to die regardless of what he did, why did trying ever matter?

The forest became quieter as Kit finished talking with Link. For a moment, there was only the sound of buzzing insects and whispering leaves. Then Ganondorf heard footsteps approaching, rustling through the tall grass.

“Gan?” Zelda sat on his haunches near him. “You okay?”

“Just peachy,” Ganondorf muttered. He looked sidelong at Zelda. “Is Link not going to try pulling the master sword?”

“He wants you to try again.”

“What’s the point?” Ganondorf watched the warm darners fly away. He crossed his legs and wrung his hands in his lap. “It’s just going to kill me again.”

“Link and I tried talking to it.” Zelda moved to sit down beside Ganondorf. “He got a feeling that you should try forgiving the Great Deku Tree.”

“Why?” Ganondorf didn’t see how it would help. If he was immutably not a good person like his mothers and everyone else assumed, one performative act of decency wasn’t going to change anything.

Zelda plucked a blade of grass. While he twirled it between his fingers, he repeated Link’s reasoning and added, “I know it sucks to find out that the Great Deku Tree knew this whole time, but… at least I got to meet you because of how things worked out.” He tossed aside the blade of grass and lifted his head up towards Ganondorf, attempting a smile. “If you hadn’t broken into the castle and bombed your ass, I don’t know if we would’ve been able to become friends.”

Ganondorf smiled slightly despite himself. He turned his head and glanced down at Zelda in return. “You think meeting me was worth having a shitty life?”

“Well, I’d say so,” he said with a shrug, “but I know your life was worse.”

“No.” Ganondorf shook his head. “There’s no point comparing them. A shitty life is a shitty life. Details don’t matter.”

“You sure?”

“We both survived, didn’t we?” Ganondorf looked back at the master sword. Link was leaning against one of the stone pillars at the three corners of the pedestal, poking at the Sheikah slate’s screen.

It struck Ganondorf then as ironic that the very item that had brought him to the castle in the first place was here now, a part of the moment that united the holders of the Triforce. Watching Link made Ganondorf wonder why the knight got Wisdom. The Gerudo didn’t know the knight very well, but he seemed courageous enough to have willingly faced Ghirahim and venture into the Lost Woods alone. However, someone needed to get Wisdom, and it was obvious why Zelda wasn’t the chosen bearer.

The royal heir wasn’t stupid by any means, but he was certainly too short-sighted and hotheaded to epitomize a relic that valued patience and forethought above all else. Considering how often the royal heir complained of his powerlessness, it made perfect sense Zelda valued his personal agency above the other virtues. The realization made Ganondorf reconsider what it meant for him to have ended up with Courage.

Being the one to find the Triforce, he could have chosen any of the three virtues. But he had been a child, and he hadn’t known then what the Triforce was or how it worked. All he had known was that his mothers wanted it, and he had wanted to make them happy because he loved them. They protected him from a world that would have rather seen him dead, as their story went, and the Triforce would help them remake the world into a better place for all of them.

The Sacred Realm scared him, but his mothers believed in him, and he didn’t want to disappoint them. So, he put on a brave face. He got lost amid the crystalline forest, and to this day, he still wasn’t sure how much time had really passed while he was there. It had felt like eternity, and yet it wasn’t, and a child’s sense of time couldn’t really be trusted. But then again, his sense of time in general wasn’t very good. Another side effect of the Triforce, probably.

Finding the Triforce hadn’t made Ganondorf feel stronger or more confident. He never felt particularly brave about any of the things he endured. He always attributed his survival to sheer spite or the Goddesses’ perverse sense of humor, not confidence. The only thing that kept him motivated to continue fighting at all was the fact that he had Nabooru and Vaati. If he had been alone, he wouldn’t have had a reason to care about his life. But because he loved them and knew they deserved better, he held onto the possibility that things could change.

In a small, quiet way, the hardest kind of courage was choosing hope over despair.

The realization left Ganondorf with mixed feelings. With a sigh, he rocked forward onto his feet and stood up. “I guess I’ll try again.” He held out his hand to help Zelda stand. “If it still doesn’t like me, we either need to give up and go back to the castle or have Link try.”

Zelda smiled as he accepted Ganondorf’s hand. “Okay.” The Gerudo lifted him up like he weighed nothing. The two of them returned to the pedestal.

When Ganondorf was once again situated in front of the master sword, the Deku Tree faced him and said, “I am sorry for your years of pain.”

Ganondorf looked up at the Deku Tree, taken aback by the apology. He didn’t know how to respond. Words were escaping him, so he remained silent instead.

“Your anger is justified,” the Deku Tree continued in his slow, deep-rooted voice. “You did not deserve what you endured. Please remember… It was your own resilience that allowed you to survive, young one, not the Triforce. Its gifts are only as strong as your spirit.”

Ganondorf’s jaw clenched and he inhaled sharply through his nose. Tears brimmed in his eyes. It stunned him, how much the Great Deku Tree’s words affected him. The feeling was akin to losing his breath, not through a lack of air, but the force of it condensing in the center of his chest. He needed the reaffirmation more than he realized.

“Thank you,” Ganondorf choked out. He swallowed hard and averted his gaze. “I’m sorry I blamed you.”

The Deku Tree smiled. “Your apology is welcomed.”

Ganondorf nodded and looked down at the master sword once more. He placed his hands on the pommel and whispered, “Please help me.” His fingers wrapped around the handle. The light blue lacing was cool beneath his skin, as if it was submerged under flowing water. “I’m not the hero you remember, but this is my fight.” He tightened his grip and pulled up.

Flashing blue-white light, the master sword resisted lifting from its base. Its blade grit across the stone holding it. Just before coming free, its resistance slackened. Ganondorf gasped. He lifted it into the air and marveled at the shining blade. With a flash, it then extended to better fit his hand. Its sheath appeared on his belt.

“Yes!” Zelda jumped into the air and did a fist pump. “You did it!”

 _“Good job!”_ Link signed, grinning.

Ganondorf laughed. “It worked.” His eyes were wide with disbelief. The master sword felt like winter air, sharp and light. He then noticed the sheath on his belt and was pleasantly surprised again. The master sword slid into its sheath with a satisfying click. Leaving his thumb hooked over its hilt, he glanced down at Vaati. “I guess we’re ready to go home then.”

Zelda asked, “Should we go get Nabooru before we return to the castle?”

Vaati looked to Ganondorf for his answer, and the Gerudo grinned. “Do you even need to ask?”

“All right then,” Vaati said. “Everyone gather together, please. After I make these trips, I’m probably going to need to pass out for a week.”

“And you can definitely do that,” Ganondorf said. “Thank you, Vaati.”

Vaati gave Ganondorf a tired smile and patted his jaw. “You’re welcome.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm glad that it so happened that this update ends on a good note, because fuck do we need it.


	34. “I wish you didn’t have to meet her like this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm finally back at my own apartment and my dad has returned home at last. Thank you everyone who commented with positive thoughts/encouraging messages. They really helped a lot. I'm going to focus on self-care for the rest of this week to recover and maintain strength to deal with all of the ongoing problems in the world. I wish there was more I could do to help, but I am so incredibly thankful that this fic is helping so many people have a place to escape even for a little while.

Zelda, Ganondorf, Link, and Vaati appeared in Ganondorf’s room. The space was smaller than Zelda expected, more so with so many people in the room, but the ceiling was plenty tall enough to accommodate Ganondorf’s height. While Link looked curiously at the watercolor paintings of forests pinned to Ganondorf’s walls, the Gerudo walked into an adjacent, tiled room. Zelda followed him and paused when he realized it was his bathroom.

“Wow.” The sink and tub were made of a sand-colored marble, and the floor and a strip of the wall was covered in blue, green, and indigo sea glass. Around a half-partition was the strangest chamber pot Zelda had ever seen, as it was made of pure white stone and filled with clear water. Zelda then noticed the faucet handles on the sink and couldn’t resist trying to turn one. When water came out without needing to be pumped, he grinned. “This is amazing.”

Ganondorf glanced back at Zelda playing with the sink and rolled his eyes. “It’s just water.”

“Yeah, but it comes out on its own.” Zelda tried the other faucet and jerked back his hand when it felt hot. “You don’t even have to heat it yourself?”

“No? How do you heat your baths?”

“I just use my fire magic.”

“Well, that’s ancient tech for you.” Ganondorf left the bathroom through another door.

Zelda turned back off the sink and followed him into another bedroom. It also had many paintings pinned to the walls, but rather than forests, they depicted richly detailed adobe cities and desert vistas. As Ganondorf knelt down beside a bed, Zelda realized the stone figure lying on it was Nabooru. “Oh.” His good humor evaporated.

“I wish you didn’t have to meet her like this,” Ganondorf said quietly, running his hand over her cold fingers. Nabooru had been petrified with her arms by her sides, head leaning slightly to the side. Her thick, curly hair looked like it had been carved by a master artisan, and even some of the pattern on her halter top and sirwal pants were distinguishable. Her injuries were more obvious. There was a cut on her elbow, a nasty puncture wound through her stomach, and most frightening, a deep gash in the side of her neck.

“Once we lift her petrification, she’ll need immediate medical attention,” Ganondorf said, turning his head towards Zelda. “I assume there are Sheikah at the castle who can treat cursed wounds?”

Zelda nodded, though he was uncertain even their most skilled magic-wielders would be able to save her. “We’ll do everything we can for her.”

“All right.” Ganondorf looked back towards his room. “Come on, Link. Stop snooping through my stuff so we can leave.”

Link hurried through the bathroom into Nabooru’s room. _“I wasn’t snooping. Drawings were pretty. Who made them?”_

Once Vaati translated for Ganondorf, he answered, “Me and Nab, of course. Hers are the better ones.”

“Huh.” Zelda wished he had spent more time looking at Ganondorf’s drawings instead of the bathroom.

“Anyway, let’s go.” Ganondorf faced Nabooru again. “You’ll be better soon.”

* * *

After Vaati brought all of them back to the space between Zelda’s bookcases and sitting area, Link and Zelda told the guards to get them Impa and the castle’s best healers. Ganondorf and Vaati remained with Nabooru. Since his sister appeared on the floor, he was reluctant to leave her side or move her. With her body currently made of stone, it was all too possible she could break.

The Sheikah healers arrived first, an old woman named Cassia and her apprentice. With the two of them kneeling beside Nabooru, ready to begin, Vaati guided Ganondorf from his shoulder through how to lay the master sword over her and ask for its aid. During the space of a few heartbeats, Ganondorf worried that it wouldn’t work, that his sister would remain stone for the rest of eternity, but then its blade glowed blue-white. The rest of Nabooru’s body glowed with it.

As suddenly as a shattered glass, the stone encasing her fractured and evaporated.

Nabooru gasped once, choking on her own blood, but the two healers laid their hands on her injuries. Ganondorf moved the master sword aside and held his breath. Their magic didn’t appear to have any effect at first, but slowly her wounds closed. The master sword evidently lifted the curse from her wounds as well as her petrification. When they finished, her sickly pallor remained.

Cassia reached into her coat and handed Ganondorf a fairy tonic. “When she wakes, give her this,” she said, her voice raspy with age. “It will restore much of her strength, but she will need time to fully recover.”

Ganondorf gingerly accepted the pink elixir, as if the tiny bottle might break in his hands. “Thank you.” He readjusted his hold on it and put his hands under Nabooru’s back and legs. As he lifted her up, the healers headed out of the room.

Ganondorf looked at Zelda, who had kept his distance with Link while the healers worked. “Can I put her on your bed?” he asked, nodding towards it.

“Oh, yeah, go for it,” Zelda answered, waving him away to do so. “I wasn’t going to make you leave her on the floor.”

Ganondorf smiled. “I know, but I had to ask.”

While he walked to Zelda’s bed, the door opened again suddenly and the king marched inside. “Zelda, I swear by the Three, you are going to give me a heart attack one day!” He hurried to him and put his hands on his shoulders. “Were you hurt?” he asked, looking him over worriedly. “I saw healers—”

“I’m fine, Father,” Zelda answered, twisting out of his hold. “They were here for Ganondorf’s sister.”

“His sister?” King Cornelius echoed, then noticing the Gerudo holding Nabooru in his arms. He did a double-take as he realized its significance.

Impa came in behind the king. “I’m glad to see you all came back safely,” she said, regarding Zelda proudly before she saw Ganondorf still standing with Nabooru. “Go ahead and put her down. We can talk in here.”

“Oh, yes,” the king said, “we have much to discuss.” He turned to Zelda as anger replaced his worry. “Do you have any idea how irresponsible it was to go into the Lost Woods? Never mind that Impa allowed it! You—”

“Stop!” Zelda shouted, cutting his hand through the air in front of him. “Just stop. Before you continue lecturing me, look at us. We found Link, got the master sword, and rescued Ganondorf’s sister. How can you possibly still want to yell at me?”

“Because you did it behind my back, yet again!” King Cornelius retorted. “I am thankful that you are safe, but you could have been killed or lost forever.”

“But I wasn’t. You can’t protect me from my destiny, no matter what it’s supposed to be now.” Zelda held out his arms. “I don’t have Hylia’s power, and I don’t have the Triforce of Wisdom.” He lifted up his hand to show him his mark and continued, “ _This_ is the Triforce of Power. Link has Wisdom, and Ganondorf has Courage. Hyrule doesn’t need me to be a princess because none of us are like our namesakes.”

The king stepped back, dumbfounded, and looked to Impa. The Sheikah looked just as surprised. She faced Zelda and asked, “Did you learn this from the Great Deku Tree?”

“No, Link and Ganondorf realized it for themselves in the Lost Woods.” Zelda faced his father again. “Ganondorf was also the one to draw the master sword, not Link, so don’t you dare call him a villain again.”

“I don’t understand,” King Cornelius said, looking from Zelda to Ganondorf. The Gerudo had sat down on the edge of Zelda’s bed by Nabooru and was watching the king with a deadpan expression. “It’s not possible.” He shook his head. “This goes against all of our history.”

Impa pat the king’s shoulder, sympathetic as he struggled to process the news. “That’s what I told you. They’re a new generation, writing a new story.”

King Cornelius stared at Impa for a moment before he touched his forehead. “I need to sit down.” The king went to the side chair and practically collapsed into it. Impa followed and sat on the sofa near him.

Link studied the king briefly before he turned back to Zelda. _“Now can you explain what I missed while I was gone?”_

Zelda couldn’t help but laugh. “Yeah.” He faced Ganondorf and said, “You should ask Impa for help figuring out where Ghirahim put his sheath. Just imagine how cool it’d be if you could wield him _and_ the master sword.”

Ganondorf raised an eyebrow, amused by the thought. “Aren’t they supposed to be enemies?”

“Yeah, which is why it’d be great.”

“That may be pushing the limits of the respect he’s offering,” Ganondorf answered, though it was nevertheless appealing. He was better with twin blades than with a single sword and shield. He wondered what Ghirahim would think of the master sword deeming him worthy. It certainly seemed to prove without a doubt that Demise wasn’t in him. If the demonic deity had any presence in his soul, just holding the master sword probably should have smote him thrice over by now.

Giving his sister and Vaati a parting glance, as the Minish sorcerer had curled up on the pillow beside her head and passed out, Ganondorf got off the bed. Link took his spot and Zelda dragged over his vanity chair to get Link up to speed on current events. As Ganondorf joined Impa and the king in the sitting area, the weight of the master sword was a comforting presence by his side. It had been a long time since Ganondorf had felt so hopeful for the future.


	35. “Second chances don’t come without limits.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm slowly readjusting to working at the library with all of our new changes as we partially reopen. I haven't had to deal with too many upset people, thankfully, and my friends have been a big help in helping me destress after everything last weekend. I hope all of you, my wonderful readers, are safe and doing okay. 
> 
> As for an update on my writing, I've been working hard on wrapping up some new chapters that will be added after chapter 51. They were originally just going to be some bonus scenes I was writing to get to know Link better, but it turned into some pretty poignant stuff that works with this story's main themes.

“Impa, Your Highness,” Ganondorf said, nodding politely to each of them before he took his seat on the rug. He rested his elbows on the coffee table. “I know all this is hard to believe, but I still need your help. I can’t protect my sister and fight my mothers at the same time.”

Impa faced him with understanding. “If you need somewhere safe, Nabooru is welcome to stay here or with Sheikah agents in Kakariko. We can also contact Chief Saburi and arrange accommodations in Gerudo Town. You are her grandchildren, after all.”

As tempting as it was to meet his grandmother, Ganondorf shook his head. “Gerudo Town is too close to the Yiga. Here or Kakariko is good, but Nab can decide beyond that.”

“If you’re sure,” Impa answered. “Now, regarding working with Ghirahim. He calls you his master, and yet he’s tasked you to find his sheath in order for him to obey you?” She lifted her eyebrows to emphasize her doubt. “Forgive me if that sounds strange.”

Ganondorf sighed. “Yeah.” He rubbed between his eyes. “We have a complicated relationship. He’s certain some part of Demise lives on in me, so he partnered with my mothers to try to make me remember being him. But now that my mothers have their divine beast, he’s apparently turned on them to continue testing me.”

King Cornelius sat forward and gave Ganondorf a skeptical look. “So you think you can trust this demon? He nearly ran off with Zelda!”

“I know,” Ganondorf answered. “But he’s never meant him any ill will.”

The king frowned at him referring to Zelda with male pronouns, so Impa interjected, “The point is, Ghirahim is unpredictable. Would our time not be better spent eliminating him as a threat?”

“No, it’d be a waste to try, and he’s not that bad as a person. If I can get Ghirahim to work with me, he can tell us everything we need to know. He’s been privy to all of my mothers’ plans, seen everything they’ve hidden from the rest of the Yiga Clan. He might even know how to destroy their divine beast.”

Impa put her fingers together as she considered his points. “You’ve made a convincing argument,” she said after a moment, “but the question remains – can you find his sheath before your mothers make their next move?”

“I don’t know, but as soon as Nab wakes, I’m going to have Vaati take me back to their hideout. I need to get our things regardless, and there’s a good chance I’ll be able to find Ghirahim in his rooms now.”

Looking surprised, the king said, “What does a demon sword need rooms for?”

“To store all the crap that fanatic Yiga members bring him, mostly. They worship him because of his connection to Calamity Ganon, and he encourages it because of his big ego.”

“Ah, of course,” the king said, annoyed. “Why didn’t I think of that?”

“Yeah. Anyway…” Ganondorf ran his hand through his hair. “I’ll see if I can at least get a timeline out of him and a region to narrow my search. If I can’t…”

Impa’s expression became grim. “Then we will prepare our people for the worst.”

Ganondorf nodded somberly.

While Ganondorf continued talking with Impa and the king, Zelda finished telling Link about what had happened while he was in the Lost Woods. In return, Link told Zelda more about what he did while he was trapped. Most of the knight’s time had been spent wandering, fighting stalkoblins, and meditating on his Triforce to try to use whatever powers Wisdom could offer. The Great Deku Tree had also told Link before they left that the Koroks found the Sheikah agent who tried to find him. She was a little dehydrated from being trapped for a few days, but the Koroks gave her some water and led her out of the woods. She was probably back at the castle now.

During a lull in their conversation, Zelda looked towards Ganondorf. He sighed longingly, wishing he could join and help plan his potential travels, but he doubted that his father would actually let him and Link go. The wedding was in less than three weeks, and there were still no plans to postpone it. Now more than ever, they needed to give their people something to look forward to. Yet the closer it came, the more Zelda dreaded the date.

Link tapped Zelda’s shoulder to pull him out of his thoughts. He met his eyes as if he had read Zelda’s mind. _“You need to talk to the king. I don’t want our union to make you suffer.”_

Zelda pulled up his feet onto his chair and hugged his knees. “But it’s too late,” he whispered. “Everything’s already been ordered.”

_“Then instead we can celebrate Ganondorf and Nabooru’s return.”_

Zelda looked dubiously at Link. “It can’t be that easy.”

_“Not with that attitude. If you will not talk to the king, I will call it off for you. King needs to know I don’t want to make any heirs anyway.”_

Zelda couldn’t help but smile sadly. “True.”

Link gave Zelda an impish smile in return. _“Besides, you are more likely to make heirs with Ganondorf.”_

Turning red with embarrassment, Zelda slapped at Link. “Shut up!”

Link laughed and held up his arms in defense. The motion on the bed made Nabooru shift, and she sighed softly, waking up. Link turned to face her, startled.

“Huh?” Zelda got up from his vanity chair. “Oh! You’re awake!”

Nabooru looked towards his voice with an alarmed expression. Her whole body tensed, preparing to bolt. “Uh…” she started, but then she heard Ganondorf call her name. Relief spread across her features. “Gan!” She sunk back into Zelda’s pillows as he hurried over. “Where are we?”

Ganondorf nearly jumped onto Zelda’s bed in his rush to get to his sister, making Link flinch. “Hyrule Castle,” he said, grinning. “This is Link and Kit.” He gestured to each of them.

The knight shifted to face Nabooru and waved with a shy smile. Zelda smiled widely and said, “It’s nice to meet you for real. Ganondorf was worried sick about you.”

Ganondorf nodded and added, “They helped me get the master sword so we could save you.”

“The master sword?” Nabooru’s eyes widened and she propped herself up on her elbows to get a better look at her brother.

“It’s right here,” Ganondorf said, grabbing its sheath to tilt it towards her. “Can you believe it?”

“No! How—?” She stopped as Vaati yelped. He had rolled into the dip in the pillows left by her head. “Uh?” Nabooru looked over her shoulder back at him. “Vaati? Were you sleeping in my hair again?”

“I was,” he grumbled, getting back up.

Ganondorf laughed. No matter how many times the Minish found himself being rudely awakened by Nabooru’s rising, he still continued to tempt fate and nest in her curls whenever he could. Ganondorf could forgive Vaati for trying this time, however, considering how worried they had been over Nabooru. He reached over Link and Zelda to get the fairy tonic he left on Zelda’s nightstand.

“Drink this,” Ganondorf said, holding it out for her. “The healers said it’d help restore your strength.”

“Oh, _sarqso_ ,” Nabooru said, accepting the bottle. She looked back at Link and Zelda and then noticed the king and Impa standing near the foot of the bed. Her eyebrows rose when she realized who they were. She blushed, embarrassed to meet such important people in such a disheveled state. Her tangled hair and the dried blood on her skin made her feel like a complete Zonai savage. She swept her curls away from her face and tried to sit up straighter. “Thank you for your hospitality. I don’t really understand how we got here, but my brother and I are clearly in your debt.”

Impa inclined her head to her. “It is our pleasure to have you.” Gesturing to Ganondorf, she added, “You and your brother are welcome to stay here as long as you wish.”

“Provided that he stays out of forbidden areas,” King Cornelius said, eyeing the Gerudo man.

Ganondorf looked sheepish and shrugged. “I’ve already apologized.”

“Father, please,” Zelda said, exasperated.

The king frowned at Zelda. “Second chances don’t come without limits.”

Zelda scowled in return. Ganondorf turned back to Nabooru. “A lot’s happened while you were unconscious, but Kit can tell you everything. I need to go back home now to get our things and talk to Ghirahim.”

“But I just woke up!” Nabooru protested. “The desert is so far away, and—”

“Vaati figured out how to make teleportation markers,” Ganondorf answered. “I’ll be back before tomorrow morning at the latest.”

“Are you sure?” Nabooru asked. “If we’re free now…”

“We’re not quite yet.” Ganondorf smiled ruefully. “It’s why I need to talk to Ghirahim.” He reached over to give her a hug. Quietly, he said, “I’m sorry I have to leave you again.”

Nabooru hugged him back. “I’m just glad we’re okay.” She pulled back to regard him. “Keep care of yourself, _éskazhanto-mak_.”

“I will.” Ganondorf held out his hand for Vaati, who was still sitting on her pillows. “Are you rested enough to go?”

“I think so, if it’s just us,” Vaati said, though he didn’t sound fully awake yet. He rubbed his eyes with the heel of his hand. “You just better not expect me to take you anywhere tomorrow.”

“I won’t,” Ganondorf answered. “We just have one more trip.” Vaati merely nodded before he climbed onto the Gerudo’s hand. Considering he had slept most of the morning and did nothing but nap on his shoulder between their teleportation trips all afternoon, it seemed concerning to Ganondorf that he still seemed to need more sleep. He could probably put off their return to the Yiga hideout until the morning, but the fear of his mothers’ attacking the castle at any moment was too great to ignore. Ganondorf got off the bed.

Looking at Zelda, Ganondorf said, “Keep care of Nab for me, okay?”

“We will.” Zelda smiled. “She’s in good hands.”

After Ganondorf nodded his thanks, he disappeared with Vaati.

Impa turned to Nabooru. “I’ll have a room readied for you. As for dinner, would you like to join us or dine alone? It can just be us, so you don’t need to worry about it being a formal affair.”

“Uh, sure! That would be great.” Nabooru brushed back her curls again, glancing down at herself. Her clothes were bloodstained and grimy too from fighting Ganondorf inside Twinrova’s cursed armor.

Impa gave her a kind look. “It won’t take long to prepare your room, so you will have time to get yourself situated before dinner. After all that you’ve survived, we wouldn’t be offended if you change your mind and want your dinner delivered to you.”

“No, I…” Nabooru smiled shyly, glancing at Link and Zelda. “I would like to know Gan’s new friends.”

“And it would be my pleasure to know Inume’s daughter,” Impa answered. Her eyes creased with subdued fondness. “She was a dear friend.”

Nabooru averted her gaze, feeling tears well up, but her smile remained. “I am glad. You will have to tell me and Gan everything you can about her.”

“I plan on it.” Impa bowed her head. “May your strength make a swift return.” To the king, she asked, “Shall we take our leave now?”

“You may,” King Cornelius answered, “but I wish to speak with Zelda privately.” He faced Zelda. “May we go to your study?”

Zelda gulped, but nodded. “Sure.” He could only imagine his father wanted to continue lecturing him after all, but his expression was more somber than angry.

The king looked to Nabooru and Link. “We won’t be long.”

Link nodded and signed to Zelda with a reassuring smile, _“I will be here.”_

Nabooru looked surprised at his sign language, uncomprehending it, while Zelda nodded. He followed his father to the staircase to his study.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't forget - I love any and all comments, even if it's just a simple <3\. It helps me see who is still reading and remind me that I'm not just writing into the void.


	36. “I believe I owe you an apology.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh the irony of today's chapter title... I completely forgot to update this fic yesterday, so sorry for the delay! 
> 
> That chapter I've been working on has now become two chapters, and I'm pretty sure it's gonna spawn a third. It never ceases to amaze me how much I can still add even when I think I'm done with a story. The new word count is currently 134K, but I expect it to reach at least 138K by the time I'm done adding these bits (and who knows if I'll find even more to add yet). My only concern is getting these new bits done before I run out of buffer, but I think I should be okay.

Zelda rarely went up to his study. The small tower above his room had high-placed windows, leaving no good views, and he couldn’t access it anyway whenever he was grounded unless he asked the guards’ permission to let him walk across the bridge to it. He maintained the space mainly so Link could have a quiet, private place to read whatever books he could sneak out of the library. They removed most of the old bookcases to make room for comfy, seafoam green chairs and luminous stone lamps.

The king gestured for Zelda to take a seat at one of the side chairs, so the royal heir sat down and crossed his legs. After the king sunk down into his chair, he rested his hands on his knees. His expression seemed to be searching for words as he looked around Zelda’s study.

“So…” Zelda said, attempting to break the awkward silence. “You wanted to talk?”

“Yes.” King Cornelius sighed. “I believe I owe you an apology.”

Zelda blinked. “You… do?” It wasn’t that he didn’t believe his father should have been sorry for a lot of things, but to hear him acknowledge it felt like he had misheard him.

“All this time, I believed the fate of Hyrule rested in the hands of a princess and her hero. When you were born, I knew your generation was likely to repeat the epic cycle, and after Lady Inume was murdered, I became more certain. The reappearance of the Triforce four years later only confirmed my fears.”

The king lifted and dropped his hands. “Yet now I realize I have been made the fool. With the master sword in Ganondorf’s possession, I see history has blinded me to the truth of these portents.”

“Okay?” Zelda said uncertainly. “Are you apologizing for not trusting Ganondorf then? Because if that’s the case, he’s the one you should be talking to.”

“No, his actions warranted my mistrust,” King Cornelius answered. “I am apologizing for not having recognized the truth sooner. Ganondorf’s path now is clear, and I imagine Link will reach his full potential if I release him from his knightly duties to pursue whatever studies interest him.”

The king leaned back in his seat. “You, I no longer know how to help. The Triforce of Power has only ever been in the hands of evil. If your misbehavior over all these years is any indication, I worry that developing its abilities will only further negative consequences.”

Zelda exhaled forcefully, as if his father had physically struck him. Anger ignited at the pit of his stomach, but he didn’t know if he was burned more by his father’s words or by himself for expecting anything different.

Meeting his father’s eyes again, Zelda said, “The Triforce has nothing to do with me acting out.” He uncrossed his legs and sat forward. “That’s all on you. All I’ve ever wanted was for you to give me the same respect you give our knights. Instead, you’ve only treated me like a _princess_ , as if I was incapable of doing anything except quoting poetry or looking pretty.”

The accusation deepened the king’s frown. “I am only trying to protect you and our kingdom.”

“Yeah, well, it didn’t work. All you’ve done is pigeonhole me and Link into roles that never fit us, and now I feel like we’re playing catch up with Ganondorf.” Zelda continued staring at his father until he averted his eyes, admonished. “If you want to help me now, let me decide my own future and call off the wedding.”

The king looked up abruptly. “Stop the wedding?” Aghast and bewildered, he asked, “Why?”

“Because I don’t love Link in that way.” Zelda pressed his hands into fists against his legs to keep them from shaking. “I never have. We only agreed to the marriage because I didn’t want you to pick another husband for me.”

Falling back in his seat, the king said, “No, that can’t be. He’s perfect for you.”

“No, he was perfect for _you_ to make king,” Zelda answered. “And you still can, if you continue to refuse my claim to the throne.”

The king sighed mournfully. “Why must you ask this of me _three weeks_ before the ceremony?” he asked, resting his forehead on his fingers.

“Because I didn’t think I could before now. You never _listened_ to me until now.” Zelda paused. “Our preparations don’t have to all go to waste. Link thinks we can use the day to celebrate Ganondorf and Nabooru’s freedom. We can recognize Ganondorf as our new Hero, and Chief Saburi can formally thank us for helping her grandchildren.”

“Is it not presumptuous of us to celebrate their freedom when their kidnappers are still plotting our downfall?”

“Maybe. We’ll just need to make sure we stop them before the party starts.”

The king shook his head, disbelieving Zelda’s plan. “What do you expect to be able to do?” he asked. “You’re not fit to travel across the country, especially now that monsters have repopulated the wilds.”

“See, now you’re treating me like a princess again,” Zelda retorted. “If I was born a son, would you still try to dissuade me?”

“Yes, as you are still my only child!” the king answered in a raised voice before recomposing himself. “What is your obsession with being a man? Does the life and body the Goddesses’ graced you with mean so little that you would reject their blessings in order to spite me?”

Zelda tried not to wince, but he couldn’t stop himself from lowering his gaze. He forced himself to meet his father’s eyes again. “I’m not a man to spite you. I just am.”

King Cornelius rubbed his temples. “I can’t understand. You’re a beautiful young woman, just like your mother. It is childish to pretend otherwise.”

Zelda grit his teeth, feeling stabbed by his words. “Well, it’s cruel to not believe me,” he spat, rising from his chair. “I’ll have dinner in my room tonight.”

“Zelda, stop,” the king called as he went to the door. “You can’t abandon us when we have a guest!”

“I can and will if you insist on calling me a woman!” Zelda walked out and slammed the door behind him.

The king opened back up the door and followed Zelda onto the bridge back to his room. “Stop running away from me!”

“No!”

As Zelda crossed the threshold into the antechamber above his room, his father caught up to him and seized his wrist. “Please, stop! I may not understand, but I don’t want to lose you.” He released his hold on Zelda. His expression looked fraught as he stared down at him. “Bear my company for just one evening. If you must go gallivanting across the country, grant me this one kindness.”

Zelda breathed hard and did not look up at his father. He held his wrist against his chest. He still felt the imprint of his father’s hand holding him, despite that it left no physical mark.

Everything in Zelda wanted to answer no, that his father did not deserve that kindness, but he knew Link and Nabooru were able to hear them downstairs. He didn’t want Nabooru to think poorly of him, that he could despise his father’s words enough to snub her too. He took a deep breath and exhaled.

“Fine. One evening.” Zelda jerked his chin towards the opposite doorway leading towards the upper rooms of the castle. “Now go so I may entertain our guest.”

“Thank you.” King Cornelius’ expression softened with gratitude, but it was quickly covered once more by his regal stoicism. “I expect a prompt arrival as well.”

Zelda bit back a snide retort and went to the stairs. “I’ll see you later.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Progress is being made... just slowly, haha.
> 
> Do you have hope for the king to eventually learn better? Or do you think Kit would be better off giving up hope for good? I'm curious because I've had a lot of people tell me how much they hate King Cornelius, but it's difficult to judge if those opinions are changing at all as the story progresses.


	37. “Try to kill me. I dare you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo! Made it to the end of the week. I'm excited to share this chapter - it's one of the ones where I had to rewrite the second half entirely because it was going too easy, and I couldn't resist ramping up the feels.
> 
> And speaking of rewriting, we're now up to 139K and I've had to redo those chapters I mentioned last time like six times already. The team just keeps going on tangents and doing stupid things, so it's been a bit of a struggle to make the new loose ends reconnect to the existing plot line.

Ganondorf left Vaati to rest in his room while he went to track down Ghirahim. The Yiga members who normally patrolled the cavernous halls outside his quarters seemed surprised to see him, but none approached or spoke to him. It wasn’t entirely unheard of for Ganondorf to wander the hideout. He was allowed in most of its areas, but he tended to avoid spending time around his mothers’ minions.

The double doors leading into Ghirahim’s rooms were framed with diamond-shaped pieces of obsidian and two braziers holding purple flames. He knocked twice before stepping inside. Standing candelabras with more purple flames lit a long hallway to a set of stairs. The diamond motif was carried through the rug on the floor. As Ganondorf walked across the vast space, he passed murals depicting the deeds of his namesakes.

The white granite throne at the top of the stairs was empty, save for the oversized pillows on it. Ganondorf turned left at the throne to head towards a curtained doorway.

“Ghirahim!” he called. “Come out and show yourself!”

The room Ganondorf entered was Ghirahim’s private sparring area. Dozens of different weapons from every region were on display racks lining the wall near the door, as well as an assortment of bows and shields. The back of the room had a stack of wrestling mats and target boards. In the center of a ring were two, well-worn practice dummies constructed out of ancient materials.

It was in this space that Ganondorf had spent the most of his time with the demon, and it was also where the two of them got along best. Unlike his mothers, whose ‘lessons’ were merely deadly trials, Ghirahim had been a patient and generous teacher. He taught Ganondorf how to use and defend himself against every piece of his weapons collection, how to locate and target enemy weaknesses, and how to get out of countless precarious situations. The demon never forced Ganondorf to come to his rooms. He was just as content to play with his collection alone. However, he always helped Ganondorf hone his skills anytime he asked.

Ganondorf walked into the center of the sparring area. “I’m here with a new toy, and I bet I can use it to wipe the floor with your ass.”

“That’s a bold gamble for someone who’s never defeated me,” Ghirahim said, appearing behind the Gerudo. “What toy could make you so confident?”

Ganondorf turned to face Ghirahim and pushed back his cloak.

Ghirahim recoiled at the sight of the master sword. “Where did you get _that?_ ” he exclaimed, as if Ganondorf was a child again and had just brought home a scorpion.

“Lost Woods,” Ganondorf answered with a smirk. “I drew it myself.”

“You?” Ghirahim gaped at him. “But you’re not Link!”

“Yeah, but you told me to play the Hero’s game.” Ganondorf rested his hand on its hilt. “I’m just taking you seriously.”

“How are you even _touching_ that thing?” Ghirahim asked. “Does it not burn?”

“No. But, I’ll be honest, it killed me the first time I tried to pull it.”

Ghirahim looked more confused. “Then why are you alive?”

“I’ll tell you if you can tell me where my mothers’ divine beast is and how long I have to stop it.”

Annoyance replaced Ghirahim’s confusion. “That’s too easy. If I tell you, you’ll just take that farce and abandon me.”

Ganondorf shrugged. “If you can give me a hint on where to find your sheath, I wouldn’t have to fight them without you. Kit was saying he wanted to see me use you and the master sword together.”

Ghirahim curled his nose in disgust. “You _must_ be joking.”

His expression made Ganondorf laugh. “I knew you would say that.” He held out his hands. “But if you’re making me choose, what would be better? The Sword that Seals the Darkness? Or the weapon that was defeated by it?”

“Watch your insults,” Ghirahim snarled, “unless you are actually intending to challenge me.”

“What if I am?” Ganondorf asked. “If I win, will you tell me what I want to know?”

“ _If_ you win… perhaps.” Ghirahim conjured his shadow saber. “But when I win, you’ll have to answer all my questions.” He folded his empty hand behind his back and took a fencing stance.

Ganondorf removed his cloak and tossed it aside. He was still wearing his vai clothes from this morning, though he had put away his veil and other accessories. Without any armor, his primary defense needed to be speed. It didn’t matter that Ghirahim severely outclassed him in that regard. Even without teleporting, the demon was unnaturally quick. The main advantage Ganondorf had over him was his reach. His long arms wouldn’t mean anything, though, if he let Ghirahim get an opening. Ganondorf drew the master sword and one of his twin blades. He faced Ghirahim with both blades up. After one breath, he lunged.

Ghirahim parried as he expected and Ganondorf followed with his twin blade. The demon danced around Ganondorf, blocking each of his strikes with a theatrical twirl on his heel or flourish of his saber. The practical purpose was to wear down the Gerudo without actually hurting him, but it also served Ghirahim’s ego to show off his skill and artistic moves. Ganondorf allowed it because the game was helping him warm up and get used to the feel of the master sword.

The sacred blade was slightly longer than his twin blades, and heavier too. It thrummed with power and sang each time it clashed with the demon’s saber. The length of its steel gleamed blue-white. Ephemeral arcs of light followed its wake. Its trails were distracting at first, but Ganondorf soon tuned them out. The master sword became an extension of him, more than his twin blades had ever been.

As their sparring continued, Ganondorf pushed himself harder to tighten his precision and strike faster. Ghirahim noticed the change and grinned. It was time to raise the challenge.

When Ghirahim sprung forward with his attack, Ganondorf barely deflected his saber. He was forced to backtrack as the demon continued pushing his offense. His shadow saber was hardly more than a flurry of obsidian flashes. The master sword absorbed every hit it took, but his offhand twin blade reverberated with each blow.

Pushed nearly to the wall, Ganondorf lunged to the side to avoid being pinned. He landed in a roll, falling on his back, and brought back up his blades just in time to scissor-block a downward strike. He rabbit-kicked the demon, threw himself back onto his feet, and swung the master sword – only to lurch backwards again. Ghirahim’s saber sliced the air where the Gerudo’s neck had been.

It was while Ganondorf returned to a defensive position that he noticed blood on the ground. His blood. He was bleeding. A long, shallow cut ran from his shoulder blade to his pelvis, slicing through his vai halter. The cut dripped down his side and stained his pants. With a muttered curse, he pulled off his ruined top and threw it outside the sparring ring.

Soon other cuts crossed his body. A line across his abdomen. Another on his thigh. One on his forearm, catching a strike that his bracers would have normally stopped. Adrenaline dulled the pain, but didn’t completely erase its sting. Ganondorf narrowly avoided another swipe at his throat. He marveled that it didn’t kill him. It was the kind of near-miss that would have normally been preceded by déjà vu.

Yet it hadn’t given him déjà vu. It occurred to Ganondorf that he had never felt echoes of death in Ghirahim’s sparring room, actually – not now or ever in his memory.

The realization made Ganondorf falter and earn himself nicked fingers. He hissed through his teeth and retaliated blindly.

“Don’t get sloppy on me now,” Ghirahim said, flicking aside Ganondorf’s poor swing. “A divine _toy_ can’t fight for you!”

Ganondorf lifted both his blades to catch the demon’s following strike. He held Ghirahim’s saber between them and met his eyes. “I know that,” he answered, slowly pushing Ghirahim down with his shadow weapon. “So stop holding back and fight like you mean it!”

“Oh, ho ho!” Ghirahim grinned up at Ganondorf, delighted that the Gerudo finally noticed his restraint. “Are you sure about that?” He pushed back against Ganondorf’s blades with one hand, reclaiming his upper hand against the larger man without any effort. “You may need more than an elixir if you insist.”

Ganondorf grit his teeth as he struggled against the force behind Ghirahim’s saber. He broke away and retreated two steps. Ghirahim returned to his fencing stance and remained where he was. Ganondorf took the moment to catch his breath. He swallowed hard against his dry throat. Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he adjusted his feet. His blades returned to their fighting positions.

“I insist,” Ganondorf said, hardening his expression. “Try to kill me. I dare you.”

Ghirahim stared at the Gerudo for a moment, judging the seriousness of his dare. Ganondorf’s face didn’t budge. “Oh my…” The demon lifted his eyebrows. “You actually mean it.” His lips stretched into a wolfish grin. “Very well then.” He lifted two fingers from his saber and beckoned Ganondorf to strike first. “Anything for you, Ganny.”


	38. “Careful, you almost made it sound like you actually like me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everybody, I hope you're all doing all right. I have a few updates to go with today's update.
> 
> 1\. I removed the relationship tag for Ganondorf/Zelda, not because they're not a couple, but because of other reasons. The main one is that anyone searching that tag isn't really looking for an M/M ship, and anyone who is here for the M/M ship might be turned off by it, so I'm just trying to make it easier for interested readers to find this work and not be mislead. (If I'm wrong and you did find this fic because of that tag, let me know). The other reasons are that romance isn't really the focus of this story, and I kind of want to explore other relationship options down the road. (Not gonna say who's going with who, but I do want to leave it open to interpretation).  
> 7/3/2020 update: I went ahead and put the tag back after talking more with commenters/my friends. 
> 
> 2\. I've been getting kind of discouraged because I've been getting fewer and fewer comments as this fic progresses, and even my regular two commenters have been too busy to read lately. I know life gets in the way and it's not necessarily a reflection of my work to get less feedback, but I can't help but wonder if readers are leaving because of anything in particular making them lose interest.
> 
> 3\. Because I'm not getting as much feedback anymore, and because book 2 is still being annoying to write, I'm considering going back to once-a-week updates instead of bi-weekly. The only reason I upload my writing is to interact with my readers. If I can't do that, it's just easier to keep my work to myself and my irl friends. If you don't want updates decreasing, let me know. 
> 
> 4\. To wrap up on a fun note, I finally posted the colored art I did of Gan with the master sword. As with my other drawings, it's not depicting any particular scene in this story. I just wanted a good pic of him in general.

[Here is the link to this pic on my Twitter!](https://twitter.com/DarkAcey/status/1272911500416516098)

* * *

Ganondorf felt his déjà vu return as Ghirahim beckoned him to begin their next round. Phantom cuts joined the ones already on his body, forewarning a long list of lethal strikes he would have to avoid. He pushed the thought from his mind and ran forward.

Unlike the start of their last match, the demon didn’t waste any time toying with him. Ghirahim stepped aside of Ganondorf’s charge and tilted his shadow saber towards the Gerudo’s ribs. Its point dove for his heart.

Ganondorf’s body moved before he saw the saber coming. He only realized what he actually dodged as he backpedaled away.

The difference between their skills dismayed him. Less than a minute into their second match, and Ganondorf was already dead once over. How was he supposed to defeat Ghirahim at the demon’s full strength? He had never actually beaten him when he was holding back, so upping the difficulty was literally just suicidal.

Ganondorf didn’t get to ruminate long on the question. As the demon pulled back to swing again, Ganondorf’s sense of déjà vu grew stronger. He concentrated on the feeling, willing himself to remember the fights he now knew had already happened. If he could remember each pass through the Lost Woods, it had to be possible to know what was coming next. His body was already reacting as if it did. He just needed to see more than one second ahead of each attack to piece together the pattern of Ghirahim’s moves.

It was a better theory in his head than in practice. Ghirahim quickly cut him to ribbons, whereas Ganondorf didn’t even lay a scratch on the demon. His speed flagged and his attacks became clumsy. Ganondorf slipped on his own blood and collapsed. Shaking, he attempted to push himself back up, but his arms gave out. His vision darkened around the edges, but it was the kind of encroaching unconsciousness he had lived through many times.

“Come on,” Ganondorf panted, tightening his grip on the master sword. “I’m not trying to survive. I need to _win._ ”

With that, Ganondorf suddenly found himself standing again.

“Oh my… you actually mean it.” Ghirahim’s lips stretched into a wolfish grin. “Very well then.” He lifted two fingers from his saber and beckoned Ganondorf to strike first. “Anything for you, Ganny.”

Ganondorf broke into a grin.

Their next fight proceeded like the last. The Gerudo only managed to avoid crippling blows before succumbing to exhaustion. As he tried again and again, he slowly began to avoid more than just Ghirahim’s lethal attacks.

The first time Ganondorf managed to cut Ghirahim, it felt as if time momentarily halted. The room blurred. The demon recoiled in slow motion. Ganondorf felt his body tug against the flow of time, pushing through it like a bog, before he seemed to step out of it completely. The master sword became a streak of light. Ganondorf managed two more hits before time caught up and pulled him back into the present.

Ghirahim shrieked and leapt back out of range. “You hit me!” he exclaimed, incredulous. The front of his cape had been halfway cut off, revealing the shallow wounds crossing his chest.

Ganondorf breathed a chuckle, too tired properly laugh. “Yeah, you little shit.” He had no idea how he managed that strange moment, but he knew it had to be a new skill from his Triforce. He did a come-hither motion at the demon. “Come get some more.”

Ghirahim’s expression turned venomous. “Don’t be so cocky.” He snapped his fingers, making his torn cape vanish.

Taunting Ghirahim seemed like the wrong move at first. The pattern Ganondorf figured out fell apart after that point, but on subsequent attempts, he realized taunting him left Ghirahim open to more time-slowing attacks. The demon’s strikes were more vicious, but less precise. It was impossible to avoid all of them. However, the sacrifice of a little blood was more than worth it to see Ghirahim bleed.

“How have you gotten so much better?” Ghirahim cried, finally on defense as Ganondorf pushed his advantage. “The master sword can’t do this!”

“This is all _me_ ,” Ganondorf answered, kneeing the demon in the stomach at the same time. It knocked the wind out of him. Before Ghirahim could breathe in, Ganondorf bashed his forehead with the master sword’s pommel. Ghirahim stumbled backwards, dazed. Ganondorf struck him down with his arm. As Ghirahim fell, Ganondorf landed on top of him and aimed the master sword’s point at his neck. He held down his shoulder and pressed his knee against his chest.

“Now,” Ganondorf growled, “ _yield_.”

Ghirahim’s eyes widened, disoriented. Ganondorf eclipsed the lights on the ceiling above him. His fiery hair fell over his shoulders, seeming bright as a torch, while his face was enshrouded. “Master?” he said, voice wavering.

“I’ve won.” Ganondorf put more of his weight onto Ghirahim, making the demon wince and give a breathless whimper. “Tell me what I want to know.”

“Okay!” Ghirahim squirmed beneath him. His fingers clawed the floor, struggling for purchase to pull himself free. “Please, Master – you’re crushing me.”

Ganondorf removed himself from Ghirahim and sheathed his blades. Now that his adrenalin was wearing off, Ghirahim’s tone disturbed him. He had never heard him sound so weak. The way he looked at him, it was like the demon was looking at a different person. Then Ganondorf realized with a chill that Ghirahim _was_ seeing someone else.

Ghirahim sat up and coughed. He rubbed his forehead where Ganondorf struck him. When he looked back up, his dazed expression became puzzled at Ganondorf’s unnerved look. As his head cleared, his eyes narrowed. A moment of realization and grief crossed his features before his expression grew sour. “That wasn’t fair.” He turned away his face, hiding behind his long bangs. “You fought like… like the first Link.”

Ganondorf found himself faintly relieved that he didn’t say Demise. “So?” he said, deciding to pretend nothing happened. “A deal’s a deal, Ghirahim.”

“Not true,” he retorted, crossing his arms. “I said if you won, I would _perhaps_ answer your questions.” He teleported back to his feet, instantly repairing the tears in his clothes and the evidence of the Gerudo’s victory. “Tell me how you increased your skill.” He jabbed Ganondorf’s chest in one of the few spots not smeared with blood. “No mortal can have that kind of luck.”

Ganondorf met his glare with a dispassionate expression. “I won. If you want me to be generous and answer you, answer me first.”

Ghirahim continued glaring at Ganondorf before he stomped his foot. “Gah!” He turned away and crossed his arms. “You’re insufferable when you get pigheaded.”

Ganondorf merely stared at the demon, prepared to wait for the rest of the night.

Ghirahim growled a sigh. “Fine. Tempestrova is at the bottom of the Gerudo Tower pit. Its next test run isn’t scheduled to happen for at least a fortnight. As for a hint on my sheath’s location…” He went quiet before he muttered, “I haven’t decided where to put it yet.”

“You mean it’s still here?” Ganondorf asked, unsurprised and yet aggravated.

“Nowhere seemed reverent enough.” He tossed his hand flippantly. “My throne is the only place mortals pay tribute to me.”

Ganondorf face-palmed. “Just let me search your fucking rooms for it then.” He looked back at the weapon racks at the back of the sparring area. “Or did you leave it where it normally is?” He answered his own question before Ghirahim could speak, as he noticed then it was in its ebony stand. Ganondorf felt stupid for not noticing it earlier. It was hidden in plain sight amongst the demon’s collection, and he overlooked it only because he hadn’t expected to find it there.

“I’ve answered your questions!” Ghirahim attempted to cover up his embarrassment with irritation. “Now answer mine.”

Rolling his eyes, Ganondorf said, “Fine. Secret is, you and my mothers were wrong. I’ve had the Triforce of Courage this entire time.”

“ _What?_ ” Ghirahim exclaimed. “But you’ve always taken Power!”

“It was your guys’ fault to expect a _toddler_ to get you what you wanted.” Ganondorf shrugged. “I figured out how it works in the Lost Woods and I used it to beat you.”

Ghirahim looked torn between being confused and affronted. “How?”

“Infinite second chances. You technically beat my ass like…” Ganondorf took a moment to try to tally all of his attempts on his fingers, but quickly gave up. They had all blurred together. “I don’t even know.”

“So you cheated!” Ghirahim said, scandalized.

“Didn’t you go back in time to revive Demise?”

“That was different! I had one shot.”

“So? Do you realize how much it sucked to get my ass handed to me countless times?” Ganondorf asked. “You only had to get beaten once.”

“It’s still not fair.” Ghirahim gave a huff, sullen.

“Don’t get me started on what’s not fair.” Ganondorf gestured to Ghirahim’s sheath. “Are you going to hide that thing for real now? Or can I just grab it and say that counts?”

Ghirahim scowled sidelong at his sheath. He turned away again and folded his arms. “I suppose I will allow it,” he said, flicking aside his bangs. “This place is no fun without you here.”

Ganondorf smiled wryly. “Careful, you almost made it sound like you actually like me.”

“Pah!” Ghirahim his back to the Gerudo. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Uh-huh.” Ganondorf fetched Ghirahim’s sheath and put it on his belt, opposite to the master sword. Their length and weight didn’t quite match, but Ganondorf knew they could still complement each other with the right technique. “Are you going to play nice with the master sword if I wield you both?”

Ghirahim looked back over his shoulder and glared at it. “You don’t talk to it, do you?” he asked, sounding surprisingly possessive.

“No?” Ganondorf raised an eyebrow. “It hasn’t said anything to me.”

“Good.” He turned up his nose. “So long as it doesn’t overstep its position, I will tolerate it.”

“Is the master sword supposed to be as sentient as you?”

“Hylia imbued it with an artificial life,” he said dismissively, “so it’s only as sentient as the guardians.” Ghirahim placed his fingers over his chest. “ _I_ , however, am real.”

“A real pain in the ass, at least.” Ganondorf laughed as Ghirahim narrowed his eyes at him. “Come on. If we stand around here any longer, I will pass out.” Despite that he beat the demon, he had still gathered enough cuts to make him feel lightheaded with blood loss.

“No, you won’t,” Ghirahim said, summoning a vial of hearty elixir from the Yiga’s storage. He held it out for the Gerudo. “You would need to leave those wounds unattended for at least thirty more minutes before you would begin losing consciousness.”

Ganondorf hummed, half-smiling. “Sure.” He took the elixir and tipped his head to knock it back.

Ghirahim looked peeved to be not taken seriously. “I know your limits better than you.” When Ganondorf still looked skeptical, Ghirahim remembered the Gerudo’s dare to kill him. Their fight had swung wildly in Ganondorf’s favor after Ghirahim accepted the challenge. The implications unsettled the demon, though he covered it with scorn. “Do you _actually_ think I killed you in all the fights you say you lost?”

The question surprised Ganondorf. He looked at the emptied vial of his elixir and rubbed his thumb along its rim. “I guess… yeah. At first anyway. I didn’t win when I managed to survive the first time, but I got my Triforce to keep the time loop going after that until I won.”

Ghirahim went quiet, frowning deeply. He stared at the mark on Ganondorf’s hand. “So, you remember these deaths? Passing into the Twilight?”

“Not exactly?” Ganondorf turned away and rubbed the back of his neck, feeling uncomfortable with the discussion. “I just get these phantom pains of whatever killed me when the time loop starts. I used to think it was just nerves or something, because I feel them all the time around my mothers. But then I had to go through Lost Woods over and over to get the master sword, and I figured out that it’s only when I don’t die that I remember each pass through.”

“I see.” The Gerudo’s words made Ghirahim look more troubled. “How detailed are these phantom pains?” he asked. “Can you tell me one way how I supposedly killed you?”

“I guess?” Ganondorf cast his mind back to the start of their fight, struggling to remember past the countless matches he had survived. He put his fingers on the side of his ribs. “You stabbed me here once, I think.”

Ghirahim stepped closer to examine the spot Ganondorf pointed out. “What was the angle?” He summoned his shadow saber and tilted the tip of his blade, as if preparing to strike there again. “To the heart?”

“Uh, yeah.” The demon’s stance and serious expression further unnerved Ganondorf. “It felt like it.”

“If I cut your aorta, you would have blacked out within one minute and died within two.” Ghirahim released his saber to smoke. “A hearty elixir takes five to fifteen seconds to stop bleeding. With further healing magic and physical therapy, the time for you to reach full recovery would take two to three weeks.” The demon took a step back. “It would have been a grievous wound, but not necessarily fatal.”

Ganondorf’s eyebrows rose and his shoulders fell. “Oh.”

“I am not so careless as to actually indulge any death wishes,” Ghirahim stated. “Your mothers may think you immortal, but you’re not.” He looked as if he was about to say something else, but he clamped his mouth shut and turned to leave the sparring room. “Let us return to your companions. I assume that Hylian child is waiting to take you back to the princess?”

“Yeah.” Ganondorf wasn’t sure he was ready to suddenly change the conversation after Ghirahim had been so candid with him, but he knew the moment had passed. “His name’s Vaati, and he’s not actually Hylian. He’s Minish.”

“A what?” Ghirahim looked baffled.

“You’ll see. Or not, actually, if he doesn’t let you see him.” Ganondorf half-smiled. “He’s been living with me and Nabooru since we were kids. You just got lucky to catch him in his Hylian form.”

Ghirahim stared suspiciously at Ganondorf. “You’re trying to trick me, aren’t you?”

“No, I’m really not,” Ganondorf answered. “But you can think that if you want.”

“Hrmn…” Ghirahim went sullenly quiet for the rest of their walk to Ganondorf’s room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't forget to respond if you have any thoughts about my note at the top. I'll be back on Saturday (if not sooner, because we're getting really close to 175 kudos).


	39. “Just trust me, okay?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudo update! Thank you to everyone who's responded so far regarding my update schedule. I was surprised too at how many kudos I got seemingly just out of nowhere, though I assume they're from people who found my drawing of Gan over on Twitter. It's nice to see new and current people showing support.
> 
> If I continue seeing support like this, I'll definitely continue my bi-weekly updates. Otherwise it'll just kind of depend on the progress I make with book 2 (which has been stuck at a standstill again, partly because it's being a dick, and partly because I've been adding so many new chapters to this fic). So, yeah. ~~I'm not exactly trying to hold this fic hostage, but I do put a lot of work into it, and I just kind of want my readers' appreciation for it to be a little more tangible than just numbers on my statistics page. It's not (only) praise I want - I just like knowing you all as people.~~

Vaati wasn’t happy to learn Ganondorf told Ghirahim about him, but the Minish grudgingly revealed his true appearance to the demon. Once Ghirahim got over his astonishment, he began pestering Vaati with questions, such as how he got into the Yiga hideout and how his default state of invisibility actually managed to work on him, a demon with supernatural abilities of perception.

Vaati was in no mood to answer all of Ghirahim’s questions, so Ganondorf stopped the demon before he could annoy the Minish too much by forcing him back into his sheath. It was as simple as hitting Ghirahim with its opening. Ganondorf didn’t know who made his sheath or how, as Ghirahim was inside it when the Yiga found him, but he was immensely grateful for its sealing enchantment. He just wished it could shut him up too.

_“Ganny! Let me back out right now! I didn’t join you to spend my days locked in this cursed thing.”_

Ganondorf went into Nabooru’s room and began emptying her dresser. He put all of her shirts and sirwals on top of her bed, and the rest of her clothes soon followed. “If you’re going to act like a tool, you get to be a tool.”

_“I was not.”_

“Were too.”

_“Was not! My curiosity serves no one but myself; ergo, I am not a tool.”_

“But you still kind of are.”

 _“I’ll have my revenge for this,”_ Ghirahim retorted with a glare in his voice.

“Oh, I know you will.” Ganondorf went into their bathroom to grab his and Nabooru’s soaps and shampoo.

_“It will be a most evil retribution.”_

“Uh-huh.”

_“You should fear it. Quake with dread and lose sleep.”_

“Sure.”

Ghirahim paused a beat. _“You’re not even listening to me anymore, are you?”_

“Nope.” Ganondorf went back into his room and opened his dresser.

Ghirahim groaned, imparting the image of him dramatically falling onto the throne in his rooms.

Vaati looked up at Ganondorf from the nest he made in the Gerudo’s blankets. “Are you almost ready?”

“Just got to grab these last few things,” he answered, pulling out a handful of clothes to add to the pile in his arms.

“Okay.” Vaati switched to his Hylian form and went to Nabooru’s room to gather his things.

Ganondorf followed and dropped off his clothes on Nabooru’s bed. He went to fetch his armor last. It was still corroded by Malice, but Vaati would be able to fix it when he had the energy to spare.

After Ganondorf added his armor to Nabooru’s bed, it was an impressive pile. He considered taking down the drawings hanging in their rooms to bring them too. There were other things that he didn’t want to leave behind, like some of his old toys and his favorite books, but it wasn’t much overall. Looking at everything, it was simultaneously less and more than he expected after living in captivity for so long.

It seemed like too much to bring everything, so Ganondorf decided against packing up sentimentals. He probably didn’t need bring so many clothes either, but he didn’t want to accidentally leave behind anything his sister would miss, and it would be a hassle for him to get more clothes if they couldn’t return again. Everything he owned had been custom-made to fit him. Aside from toiletries, there wasn’t much else he could put back. Leaving her stuffed sand seal was definitely out of the question. The fat, green plushie sitting amongst Nabooru’s pillows was one of her most precious belongings, and arguably one of Ganondorf’s as well, though he let her keep it in her room. Ghirahim had fetched it from the Gerudo palace for her after the Yiga brought them to Karusa Valley, and it was often the only thing that had helped Ganondorf sleep as a baby.

While Ganondorf debated how to thin out the pile, Vaati came out from under Nabooru’s dresser and took his Hylian form again. “I want dinner,” he complained, setting down the handkerchief-sized parcel of his belongings on Nabooru’s bed. “Can we go now?”

Ganondorf smiled wryly. “Yeah, I’m ready to go.”

“Finally.” Vaati climbed onto Nabooru’s bed and transported them.

They appeared in Zelda’s room with their things on the floor beside them. Ganondorf looked towards Zelda’s bed and saw the royal heir lying face-down, alone.

“Kit?” Ganondorf called. “Where did everybody go?”

Zelda lifted his face off the pillow. “Everybody left to get ready for dinner.” He dropped his head again. His voice was muffled as he added glumly, “I’m trying to suffocate myself.”

“Why?” Ganondorf asked slowly, wondering what he had missed.

Zelda rolled onto his back with a huff and glowered at his canopy. “My father, as usual.”

_“Ah. Now I see why you like her.”_

Ganondorf scowled at the comment, but decided against responding. “I see.” Ganondorf looked back down at his and his sister’s things. “Do you know where I should take all this?” Vaati had already shrunk down again and curled up in the pile. Considering he was wanting dinner just a minute ago, it seemed concerning that he was immediately going back to sleep. Ganondorf wasn’t sure what he could to do for him besides let him rest, however.

“All of what?” Zelda sat up and looked at him. “Oh!” He blushed and immediately lowered his gaze again, having noticed that Ganondorf wasn’t wearing a shirt or his cloak before he saw his belongings. “I can ring up one of the servants to take care of it.” He swung himself out of bed and tugged on the bell pull by his nightstand. He stole another glance at Ganondorf and realized then that his skin was crisscrossed with cuts and smeared blood. “What happened to you?”

“I found Ghirahim.” Ganondorf grabbed the demon’s sheath to turn him towards Zelda. “He just took a little convincing to join me.” His injuries weren’t actively bleeding anymore because of the elixir the demon gave him, but most of his injuries still looked raw.

_“Stop talking about me as if I can’t hear.”_

“Whoa.” Zelda stared, marveling how similar Ghirahim’s hilt was to the master sword. Both had stylized wings, but the demon’s were sharper. “It’s like he was made to match it.”

 _“The Goddess sword was a copy of me,”_ Ghirahim retorted.

The comment caught Ganondorf off-guard. “It was?”

Zelda frowned at Ganondorf, confused. “Did he just talk to you?”

“Yeah, he’s kind of crabby right now.”

_“I am much more than crabby!”_

“Scratch that, very crabby,” Ganondorf said, resisting the urge to laugh. “He doesn’t like being in his sheath.”

Zelda looked warily at Ghirahim. “Well, I don’t like him when he’s not in his sheath.”

_“What have I ever done to you? Ganny, let me free so I can set her straight.”_

“No, and especially not if you’re going to keep calling him a girl.”

_“But she is one!”_

“Kit says he isn’t, so he’s not. So unless you feel like apologizing, you’re staying put.”

Ghirahim groaned. _“Why did I ever let you have my sheath back?”_

“Honestly, I don’t know.” Ganondorf faced Zelda again, who was listening to the one-sided conversation with a displeased expression. “I’m sorry. I figured it was safer to keep him with us than to leave him at the hideout.”

“No, you’re right.” Zelda held his elbows, looking away. “I’ve just had enough of being called a girl for one day.” He glanced back up at Ganondorf. “I appreciate you trying to correct him, though.”

“I’m not just going to let him disrespect you. It’s bad enough your father does.” Before he could continue, a servant knocked on the door.

After Zelda gave them permission to enter, Ganondorf picked up Vaati. “Time to go now,” he said, brushing the Minish’s lavender hair out of his face with his finger. “Are you going to be awake enough to join us for dinner?”

Vaati curled up smaller in Ganondorf’s hand. He mumbled something too quiet to hear.

“You’re going to have to speak up if you want me to hear you,” Ganondorf said, lifting him closer to his face. It was hard to tell because Vaati was so small, but the Minish looked anemic.

Zelda noticed Ganondorf’s worried expression. “Is Vaati okay?”

“I’m not sure.” Ganondorf lowered his hand so Zelda could see him. “I think he overextended his magic.” He would check his pulse, but his hands were too big to do so effectively.

“The healers have a good supply of elixirs. Do you want me to take him down there? I can do it while you take care of your stuff,” Zelda said, glancing at the servant awaiting further orders.

Though Ganondorf was reluctant to leave Vaati, he also wanted to get back to his sister sooner. “Okay.” He carefully transferred Vaati to Zelda’s hands. “Don’t let him out of your sight.”

“I won’t.” The Minish was lighter than Zelda expected. He weighed less than a baby cucco, and his feather tail was just as soft as their newborn down. Holding him like this, it was hard for Zelda to believe someone so tiny had done so much for them.

As Ganondorf gathered up the four corners of Nabooru’s blanket to carry up their things, Zelda hurried out of his room. The infirmary was attached to the guards’ chambers. It usually saw use whenever knights in training had an accident, but both Link and Zelda had visited it many times because of their childhood antics.

It was Cassia at the front when Zelda arrived. The old woman was doing an inventory of their medicine cabinet, but she looked up as Zelda came up to her desk. “Is someone hurt again?” she asked.

“Well, Ganondorf is, but I’m more worried about Vaati.” Zelda rested his hands on her desk to show her the Minish. “He thinks he used too much of his magic.”

“Who are you talking about?” Cassia looked into Zelda’s hands and narrowed her eyes. “Are you trying to show me something?”

“Yeah, Vaati, Ganondorf’s friend?” When the old Sheikah continued to look confused, Zelda realized that she hadn’t seen or heard Vaati when he had told Ganondorf how to use the master sword to lift Nabooru’s petrification. “Oh. He’s a Picori, so you can’t see him.”

“Dear, aren’t you too old for these games?” Cassia asked, looking concerned.

Zelda sighed in annoyance. “Just trust me, okay? I need something to heal someone who depleted their magic.”

“Is this a severe case?” Cassia asked, humoring the royal heir. “If it’s not, an energizing elixir will be all you need, but if this person overreached their limits, a fairy tonic will be necessary.”

Zelda looked back down at Vaati. It was hard to tell if the Minish was even still breathing. “I think he needs the tonic.” It occurred to him then that he didn’t know how to make Vaati take it. He was too small to be able to drink from a potion bottle. “Uh, do you also have a water dropper?”

“Are we talking about a person or a pet now? I’m not sure elixirs work on animals.”

“He’s kind of both? Can you just please give me what I need?”

“All right, dear, but can you remember your manners?”

Zelda sighed. “ _Please_.”

“There we go.” Cassia went back to her medicine cabinet. She uncorked a bottle and filled a dropper with shimmery pink liquid. “Will this be enough?” she asked, handing it over.

“Probably?” Zelda readjusted Vaati to sit him up on his palm against his fingers. He hardly stirred. Putting the dropper by his mouth, Zelda said, “Vaati, wake up.” He bounced his hand, gently shaking him. “Drink this.”

Vaati barely opened his eyes and looked befuddled at the dropper in his face. Zelda gently squeezed it to make a droplet hang at the end. He continued staring.

“It’s going to drip on you if you don’t drink it.”

That seemed to get through to Vaati, as he lifted his chin to lick up the droplet. Zelda squeezed out more as he continued drinking. When he finished, he slumped back into Zelda’s hand. He looked less sickly now, but still sleepy. Relief went through Zelda.

“Thank you, Cassia,” he said, keeping the dropper with its remaining fairy tonic in case Vaati would need another dose. “Can you give me something to bring back to Ganondorf now? He came back from the Yiga hideout with a lot of cuts.”

Cassia looked baffled, having watched the dropper empty into open air, but nodded. “Yes, of course.” She took out a bottle of hearty elixir. “If he needs more than that, send him down to me.”

“I will.” Zelda took the elixir and headed back upstairs.


	40. “They could have done so much…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't have much to add since the bonus update was yesterday, but I'm glad I finally get to share a chapter with more of Nabooru. One of my biggest regrets for this fic is how little screen time she gets overall (as well as female characters in general... ^^; My writing tends to heavily focus on guys, despite that I'd like to branch out more eventually). Regardless, I hope you enjoy her and the angst to come!

Ganondorf and Nabooru were put in neighboring rooms in the Gerudo guest wing of the castle. To his surprise, though he supposed he shouldn’t have been, the bed in his room was Gerudo king-sized. Nabooru’s bed was just as large. Both rooms were furnished almost as opulently as Zelda’s room, but the Gerudo influence in its décor was clear in the patterns on the curtains and bedding. Fresh arrangements of safflina had been left on their dressers, and they each had a notecard pointing out the bell pulls and a list of the services the servants offered.

When Ganondorf arrived at Nabooru’s room, she had just finished her bath and was in a robe. She was sitting on a chaise lounge, staring out her window at Hyrule Forest Park and Crenel Hills. Their rooms were part of the castle’s eastern wall, above the floor with the dining hall. Nabooru turned towards Ganondorf with a grin as he carried in all of their things.

Teasingly, she asked, “Did you bring everything?” Despite her light tone and expression, her eyes were slightly puffy, showing that she had recently cried.

“I left the furniture, didn’t I?” Ganondorf thanked the servant for guiding him and they bid farewell. He noticed the evidence of her tears, but knew she wouldn’t want him to comment on it. Instead he opened up the bundled blanket of their things and pulled out an outfit for her.

“Here,” he said, getting up to give her a set of sunny yellow and orange clothes. They were her favorite pieces. “I’m guessing the servants took what you were wearing?”

“ _Sha_ , they went to launder them so I’d have something clean to wear.” Nabooru slowly stood up. “My legs feel like chu jelly.”

“Well, you did lose a lot of blood.”

“I know.” Nabooru took the outfit Ganondorf held out for her. “I’m allowed to complain without you telling me the obvious.”

Ganondorf smirked. “How else am I supposed to respond?”

“I don’t know. Maybe tell me what caused all this?” she said, gesturing to his numerous cuts and the dried blood all over him. She then pointed to the dark sword on his hip. “And is that Ghirahim?”

“Yeah, I beat him in a sparring contest.”

 _“Only by cheating,”_ Ghirahim interjected resentfully.

“Oh, _da késto!_ ” Nabooru congratulated him. “So he didn’t make you have to find his sheath?”

“No, he left it in his rooms.”

“Of course.” Nabooru rolled her eyes, amused. “You should let him out before you burn up his good will,” she said, going to the bathroom to get dressed. “I’d rather have him running around causing mischief than nursing animosity.”

_“Your sister is sharp. Listen to her.”_

Ganondorf frowned. “But he was calling Kit a girl.”

“And?” Nabooru called from the bathroom. “I was under the impression most of the kingdom does.”

“That doesn’t excuse it.”

“I’m not saying it does, but you can’t take away a person’s bodily autonomy just because he’s being annoying.”

Ganondorf sighed. “Fine.” He pulled Ghirahim from his sheath, and the demon sword immediately vanished and reappeared in his Hylian form.

Giving Ghirahim a stern look, Ganondorf said, “I don’t think everyone in the castle knows you’re with me yet, so don’t run around and cause a panic.”

Ghirahim returned the look with a haughty grin. “But what better way is there to announce my arrival?” he said, holding up his hands.

Nabooru came back out of the bathroom. “You could join our dinner tonight.” Her lemon-colored shirt was one of the nicer pieces of her wardrobe, as it had a topaz sewn into its top. It was given to her by one of the Yiga members she helped raise through her work in the hideout’s nursery.

“You mean pretend to be mortal?” Ghirahim scoffed. “I would sooner dull my edge on a rusty cartwheel.”

“I’m pretty sure it’d just break before it would do anything to you,” Ganondorf said, sorting his things from Nabooru’s.

“Must you take me literally?”

“I mean, I already did.” Ganondorf tapped his sheath.

Ghirahim rolled his eyes. “Your antics have grown old.” He teleported away.

Ganondorf looked back at Nabooru, who had sat back down on the chaise lounge. “Twenty rupees says we’ll hear somebody scream within the hour.”

Nabooru smiled ruefully. “I’ll take your imaginary rupees.” She turned her attention back to their pile of things. “Did you bring any of my jewelry?”

“Yeah.” Ganondorf picked up her sandalwood jewelry box and their stuffed sand seal and brought both over to her. “Am I going to need to dress up for this dinner?”

“No, but you should clean the blood off yourself,” Nabooru answered, taking the sand seal first. While she wrapped her arms around it gratefully, her brother set down her jewelry box beside her. “It will be just your friends, Impa, and the king.”

“You had me interested until you mentioned him.”

“Kit didn’t seem to want him there either, but he insisted. They had an argument after you left.” She left the sand seal in her lap while she opened up her jewelry box and took out her gold bangles and a hairclip.

“I gathered as much. He was sulking when I returned to his room.”

“What about Vaati?” Nabooru pulled up her curls into a high ponytail and affixed it with her hairclip. “Is he with you or did you leave him somewhere?”

“He’s with Kit now,” Ganondorf said, walking back to the pile. “I’m kind of worried about him actually. He passed out after we got back to the castle.”

“That doesn’t sound good.”

“Yeah, but Kit’s taking him to the healers.” Ganondorf picked up a clean outfit for himself. “Care if I wash up in your bath?”

“We’ve always shared. Fancy rooms don’t have to change that.” As Ganondorf went in, she added, “There’s only one faucet and it’s cold. The servants had to heat my water.”

“Great,” Ganondorf called, examining the castle bathroom’s features. There was a copper tub, a nearby bath stool, a basin under a hand pump spigot, a chamber pot, and numerous towels stacked in a set of shelves. It felt like something out of one of his history books. “No wonder Kit was so impressed with our bathroom.”

“It really puts into perspective how much talent was wasted on Twinrova,” Nabooru said while Ganondorf wetted a hand towel. She hugged her sand seal again and tucked her chin against its head. Quieter, she added, “They could have done so much if they hadn’t ended up obsessed with revenge.”

And there was the reason she had been crying while he was gone, Ganondorf thought dully. His sister could have done so much more too if they had not been taken.

As he sat down on the bath stool, Ganondorf said, “It had to be the ruins that made them go bad.” He worked slowly as he wiped his injuries clean. “They found a huge source of Malice while you were petrified, so lots of smaller bits probably did it without them realizing it.”

Nabooru lay back on the lounge, sighing. “That would be a convenient excuse if it’s true.” She turned towards the window to continue staring outside. She had forgotten what the horizon looked like, how its colors faded into the distance. She had been trapped underground for so long, the sight was surreal. It was hard for her to believe that the world beyond the desert was so green. She kept looking at it as if it would make it easier to believe she was really free.

“Yeah.” They both went quiet, introspective. The distance from the desert somehow made it easier and yet harder to contemplate what they endured.

His mothers hadn’t always been completely awful, at least according to their story. They had started out as two Gerudo academics who had been fascinated with ancient history, and they left the desert to seek out apprenticeships with Sheikah researchers. All of the labs they asked to teach them refused for one reason or another. The first claimed they had too many students already, the second had no interest in teaching, and the third rejected them outright on the basis that they were not Sheikah and therefore not allowed to know their secrets.

Bitter and believing that the first two had just given them excuses to save face for their prejudice, they began their own field studies and experiments. It wasn’t long before they realized they could use the Yiga Clan to get back at the Sheikah. When they learned that the Yiga had Ghirahim in their possession, they awoke the demon and persuaded him to aid their plans. It was with his help that they foresaw the date of Ganondorf’s birth, plotted his kidnapping, and sent him into the Sacred Realm.

After his mothers failed to bring Ganon out of Ganondorf when he was a toddler, they tried to groom him into a warlord. They gave him anything and everything the Yiga could steal for him. Those had been the nicest years; it made Ganondorf a rather spoiled child. Then Vaati appeared and taught him and Nabooru about the outside world, about having friends, and the things they could do with freedom.

It was hard to reconcile the two sides of his mothers. The first he called his _adila_ and _adi_ : they lavished praise when Ganondorf acted like a ‘true Gerudo king,’ taught him how to read and write in both Hylian and Gerudo, and gave him countless toys, tailored clothes, art supplies, and books on Gerudo history and ancient science. Yet almost none of their gifts were for Nabooru.

That was their other side, Twinrova. After his sister refused to have any part in their schemes, they neglected her, locking her in her room, or forced to care for the Yiga Clan’s babies while they educated Ganondorf. After Vaati joined them, Ganondorf began doing his best to share what their mothers taught him. It was when he turned fourteen that his academic education fell to the wayside and his physical training became deadly. His _adila_ and _adi_ forgot about reforming the kingdom with a Gerudo king. Instead, they embraced their Twinrova title and worked towards annihilating it with Ganon.

The side of his mothers that was his _adila_ and _adi_ never completely disappeared, however. Ganondorf could never decide if he wanted that side to simply die. It would have been so much easier if their abuse came from pure malice, but it wasn’t. It was from fear and bitterness, and the delusion that they really were the only people who could fix the things wrong in Hyrule. He hated the fact that they were still capable of mercy, and thoughtful gifts, and wry banter, however rare it was now. It made it so much harder to hate them, to allow himself to feel hurt by them without feeling guilty about it. It wasn’t their fault, and yet it was.

And in the end, no matter how he tried to reason with himself, Ganondorf always felt like the one in the wrong. Hating them was wrong, and so was loving them, and he couldn’t _not_ feel either one. And so his thoughts chased each other, every time. Every single time. It always ended with the belief he was not good enough.


	41. “Don’t believe his playacting.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last week was exhausting, and this weekend isn't looking much better. I had to cover two of my coworker's shifts, and now I have to go visit my mom. At least I have my readers and Animal Crossing. I've logged so many hours just digging up my excess flowers from time traveling... ^^;

Ganondorf was still cleaning his blood off himself in Nabooru’s bathroom when Zelda knocked on Nabooru’s door and asked if he could enter.

Nabooru answered, “Come on in.” While Zelda opened the door, Ganondorf pushed the bathroom door closed with his foot. “Gan’s in the bathroom. How’s Vaati?”

“Better, I think?” Zelda carried the Minish over to Nabooru. “This dropper has some more fairy tonic in it in case he needs more, and I brought Ganondorf a hearty elixir.”

“That was kind of you.” Nabooru took both the dropper and the bottle of elixir and set them on the table by her chaise longue. “He probably won’t bother to drink it, but you can offer it anyway.” Nabooru gently picked up Vaati and transferred him to her hand.

Looking him over, Nabooru asked, “ _Skish-mak_ , did you overwork yourself?” She brushed his lavender hair away from his face. It was no bigger than her thumbnail.

Vaati’s nose curled and he rolled away from her finger.

Nabooru smiled softly. “If you were this tired earlier, you shouldn’t have continued to use your magic.”

“Needed to make sure safe,” Vaati mumbled.

“ _Sarqso, skish-mak_ , but I want you to stay safe too.”

“Mm safe with you.”

“As am I with you.” Nabooru lowered her hands to let him rest.

“You know,” Zelda said, sitting on the other end of the chaise lounge, “despite claiming otherwise, Vaati doesn’t really act much like a real adult.”

“Not usually,” Nabooru agreed. “But he does when it matters. He’s said it’s a Minish thing. All of them stay childlike for most of their lives, but because their lifespans are even longer than the Zora’s, they’re rarely naïve.” She pet the Minish’s head with her finger. “Vaati’s particularly good at being grown up because of the mistakes he made.”

“Like turning into a demon?”

“Yes.” Amiably, Nabooru asked, “Did the stories you read about him ever say why he sought out the Light Force?”

Zelda shook his head. “No. None of them ever said that he turned good again either.”

“I thought so. Our book of fairy tales was the same, but I figured you might have had a different version.”

“Nope. Are you asking because Vaati never told you why either?”

“No, he did.” Nabooru paused, looking contemplative. “It was because he wanted to impress his teacher, Ezlo. They didn’t start out on good terms when Vaati began his apprenticeship. Ezlo had been slow with his instruction and ignored Vaati’s impatience, despite that Vaati easily accomplished all of the lessons he was given. Ezlo was too busy with his own work to give him the attention he wanted. So, Vaati secretly read books he wasn’t ready for, stole the mage’s cap, and learned dark magic. His resentment grew into evil, and he nearly destroyed the kingdom.”

The mental image the story gave Zelda felt jarring when he compared it to his present view of Vaati, still curled up in Nabooru’s hand. “How come he’s not like that now?”

“Your namesake forgave him,” Nabooru answered. “When she restored peace to the kingdom, she included him in her wish.”

“Oh.” Zelda wished he got that version of the story. As he contemplated what his younger self would have thought of it, another question occurred to him. “Why are you telling me this?”

Nabooru smiled sagely. “Ghirahim’s on our side now.” Zelda made a face. “I know what you’re thinking: he’s just the enemy of our enemy, he’s nothing like Vaati. But I’ve known him for as long as Ganondorf has been alive. Don’t believe his playacting.”

Zelda scoffed. “He wasn’t _playing_ when he almost killed Link.”

“Oh, I’m sure he wasn’t,” Nabooru agreed. “What I mean is Ghirahim’s mischief is easier to manage if you can see through his diversions. You don’t have to like him to understand him. Gan still struggles, but that’s partially because Ghirahim puts up more walls around him.”

“Yeah, right.” Zelda rolled his eyes. He couldn’t forget how Link had cried in his arms. The demon was nothing but a dangerous, arrogant bastard.

“All right.” Nabooru gave a little sigh. “I won’t ask you to look for something you don’t want to see.”

“Good.” Zelda pulled up his feet to sit cross-legged, wondering how to bridge the awkward silence. He looked back down at Vaati. “What were you calling him earlier? It was a Gerudo nickname, wasn’t it?”

Nabooru smiled at the new topic. “Yes, it was _skish-mak_. It means little mouse.”

Zelda grinned. “That’s cute.”

“It’s even cuter when you know Gan came up with it. He wanted him to have a secret name and pretend he was his imaginary friend.”

“Really?”

“It’s true. Since Vaati was invisible and Gan was young enough to still get away with playing pretend, they enjoyed tricking everyone for a long time.” Nabooru looked wistful as she recalled it. “They were even able to talk to each other in front of Twinrova.”

“That must’ve been hilarious,” Zelda said.

“It was, but I could only worry.” Nabooru’s expression grew melancholic. “Vaati was my only connection to the outside world, and my only real friend. If he got caught, I would have lost everything – him, my education, and probably even Gan to Twinrova’s plans.”

“Oh.” Zelda frowned and decided it was time to switch topics again. “So, what was it you were calling Ganondorf? It was ekshisko-something, right?”

“ _Éskazhanto-mak._ Little brother.”

“Little?” Zelda snorted.

“He was until two years ago,” Nabooru answered, sheepish. “He was small enough for me to carry to bed for most of our life.”

“I think you’d need a few horses to even be able to drag him anywhere now.”

“I can hear you, you know,” Ganondorf called from the bathroom.

Both Zelda and Nabooru jumped and looked at each other. They laughed at their expressions. The Gerudo woman lifted her chin and called back, “Hurry up and join us then, otherwise I’ll start telling Kit stories about you as a little _vehvi_.”

“You better not,” he answered, though it was in good humor. Ganondorf came out of the bathroom. His cloak was folded over the master sword and Ghirahim’s sheath. He was dressed in a pair of purple desert pants and a plain, cream-colored shirt with an unbuttoned band collar.

“You own clothes that cover you?” Zelda blurted, surprised. He blushed when he realized he spoke out loud.

“Yes?” Ganondorf raised an eyebrow, bemused. “I don’t spend every day in battle gear.”

“Yeah, I-I figured, but… I’m just going to shut up now.”

Ganondorf laughed. “Do you want me to change? All the clothes I brought are right there,” he said, pointing to the pile.

As Zelda blushed more, Nabooru said mock-seriously, “Gan, you’re killing him!”

“You should’ve seen him this morning,” Ganondorf answered with a grin. “Practically red as our hair.”

“Are you trying to make him that red again?”

Zelda folded himself over his crossed-legs to bury his face in the lounge.

“It’s not my fault he overreacts.” Ganondorf walked over to stand behind Nabooru. Leaning on the back of the lounge, he looked down at Vaati. The Minish was still in Nabooru’s hands with his feather tail curled around himself. “We should bring him with us to dinner and see if he’ll be up to eating anything.”

“I was thinking the same.” Nabooru looked over at Zelda. “Will a servant tell us when the food is ready?”

Zelda forced himself to sit back up and blew out a puff of air. “If they didn’t tell you when it’d be ready, yeah.” He glanced out the window. The sky was getting dark at its top, showing that the sun had already set on the other side of the castle. “We can probably go down now if you’d rather not wait. They can always bring out some appetizers pretty quickly.”

“Then let’s do that,” Ganondorf said. “Is the dining hall a long walk from here?”

“Not really,” Zelda answered. “It’s just down a few flights of stairs.”

A few flights sounded like a lot for someone who nearly bled to death. Ganondorf looked down at his sister. “Want me to carry you, Nab?”

“I think I’ll be fine,” Nabooru said, “but take Vaati.” She knew full well how much blood Ganondorf had to have also lost during his match with Ghirahim, even if he was better at hiding his fatigue.

Ganondorf held out his hand and Nabooru deposited the Minish onto his palm. Nabooru carefully stood up. When she didn’t feel too lightheaded, she started for the door. Zelda hopped up after her and Ganondorf followed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have so many unwritten chapters in my mind about Gan and Nab when they were kids, it's ridiculous. There are a lot of moments from their past I wish I could've included in this fic, like Vaati meeting Gan, but I don't do flashbacks, and I tend not to write one-off scenes like that. (I know plenty of writers only post drabbles or ficlets, but short form isn't really my style). That said, if enough people ask for these extras, I'd be more likely to write them. (I already have one mini-chapter about baby Gan in the Sacred Realm ready to upload - it was going to be book 2's prologue before I scrapped it).


	42. “I don’t like either-or choices.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy cow, the kudos on this fic have been shooting up like a rocket. We've already broken past 200! I don't like posting two updates in one day, however, so the bonus chapter is probably going to go up either tomorrow or Monday (depending on how busy my mom makes me). This is mostly because when other authors have done double updates, I usually miss the first one and end up super confused when I accidentally read ahead. 
> 
> Despite being home, I did to spend most of this afternoon revising the final addition to this story. I made myself cry a bit because of it again, so yay feels. It wasn't even Twinrova's fault this time.
> 
> Also, before I forget - I did end up posting a bonus ficlet about Gan in the Sacred Realm! You can read it here: [Welcome to the Sacred Realm](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24933886).
> 
> 6/29/2020 Update: This is the chapter where I first mention Ganondorf's father, so check out this ficlet if you'd like to learn more about how Sebastes reacted to learning that (1) his kids are alive, (2) one of them is a _son_ , and (3) his son attacked the castle. Link: [Shadows of Doubt](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24975364)

Dinner together was not as awful as Zelda expected. Nabooru and Impa kept most of the conversation going as they talked about Saburi, Inume, and the Gerudo heirs’ father, Sebastes. They were surprised to learn he was still alive. They had always assumed he had been killed or was just not a part of the picture, but apparently, he moved back to his home in Lurelin after it became evident that his children could not be rescued. Nabooru got her curly hair from him, and Ganondorf’s Hylian nose was just like his.

Things became awkward for a while when Zelda’s mother came up, but both the royal heir and the king didn’t want to talk about her for very long. Her death had been sudden, as she had seemed well one month, became sick the next, and was on her deathbed before the end of the third. Many in the castle assumed it was an assassination by poisoning, but Impa could never find evidence. Even royalty couldn’t avoid illness.

Ganondorf and Nabooru also avoided talking about their lives spent with the Yiga Clan, and no one pressed them for details. Link didn’t end up talking much at all, but it was mostly due to the fact that the others had to translate his signs for the Gerudo siblings. Vaati spent the entire evening nestled in a napkin. Nabooru got him to eat some of her dinner, but he otherwise slept through their meal.

When their slices of carrot cake were finished, Zelda offered to show Ganondorf and Nabooru back to their rooms. Both of the Gerudo didn’t think they needed a guide, but Ganondorf was not opposed to spending more time with Zelda and Nabooru wasn’t about to get in the way. They bid goodnight to the others and headed upstairs. Nabooru settled into bed with her stuffed sand seal and made a nest on her nightstand for Vaati out of one of her spare shirts. Zelda helped Ganondorf carry his belongings to his room.

After Ganondorf finished organizing what he wanted to pack into the travel bag that was dropped off for him during dinner, he turned back to Zelda. The royal heir was reclining on another chaise lounge like the one in Nabooru’s room. Ganondorf studied the subtle curves of his lithe body as he lay on his side. His arm and head were sandwiching a throw pillow, legs folded over each other, while he watched the Gerudo put away his things.

Zelda grew shy as Ganondorf continued looking at him. “What?” he asked, smiling self-consciously.

“Nothing.” Ganondorf half-smiled. “Just looking.” At the foot of his bed was a settee bench, so he walked over to it and sat down heavily. He felt a good kind of exhaustion, one earned through hard work rather than just necessity. “It’s been a long day.”

Zelda hummed in agreement, thoughtful. Picking at a loose thread in the lounge’s upholstery, he said, “It was a good day, though. And if Ghirahim wasn’t lying, we have some time now to get the Sheikah slate functional.”

It was one of the things they discussed at dinner, their plans to defeat Twinrova’s divine beast. Ganondorf wanted to confront them as soon as possible with Ghirahim and the master sword. Impa cautioned him against that idea. Their last hasty decision led to Link getting trapped in the Lost Woods, so she advised them to restore functionality to the Sheikah slate first. The fact that Twinrova had wanted Ganondorf to steal it proved it was important. The Sheikah slate would almost certainly be necessary if they needed to go inside of Vah Tempestrova. And if they didn’t need to, they at least needed to have a way to escape danger that didn’t require an exhausted Minish.

Since Ganondorf couldn’t refute Impa’s argument, he agreed to go to the Shrine of Resurrection. However, he would not go alone. It took some heated discussion to decide who would join him, mainly between Zelda and his father, but Ganondorf got his team. He, Zelda, Link, and Vaati would depart first thing in the morning with a horse and wagon. If Ghirahim reappeared by then, he was also invited, but Ganondorf assumed he would continue to come and go as he pleased. The demon was never far with his teleportation ability.

After a quiet moment passed, Ganondorf said, “You should probably head to bed and get your things packed.” He glanced down at his own packed bag.

“Probably,” Zelda said, though he didn’t move. He continued playing with the lounge’s loose thread. His unvoiced thoughts were starting to feel like a pacing animal in his chest. There were many big things he wanted, like peace in his kingdom and to be recognized as a man, but in this moment, he just wanted to prolong the quiet comfort of being in Ganondorf’s company.

Ganondorf turned his head back towards Zelda and rested his elbows on his knees. He could see his attention was elsewhere, but assumed he was still ruminating on the problems they hadn’t resolved during dinner. “Are you too tired to get up, or do you just have something against me sleeping?”

Zelda smirked, but didn’t look up. “Maybe.”

Ganondorf gave him an exasperated smile. “That was supposed to be an either-or question.”

“I don’t like either-or choices.”

“Do I need to threaten to carry you again?”

Zelda blushed. “No. But…” He shook his head, looking more sheepish. “No, never mind. I’ll get up.” He pulled his arm out from beneath the throw pillow and pushed himself upright.

“Are you saying no because you’re embarrassed or because you actually don’t want me to?”

Zelda stood up and folded his arms over his waist. His mind grasped for another witty comeback, to try to keep the mood light, but he lapsed into honesty instead. “The servants would talk.”

“And that’s a problem?” Ganondorf asked, raising an eyebrow. “You got your father to call off the wedding.”

Ganondorf was still surprised it had been that easy, though none of them were in agreement over what to do with the celebration preparations now. He and Nabooru agreed it was weird for their rescuers to throw them a party instead of Chief Saburi, and Ganondorf didn’t want any honors just because the master sword accepted him as Hyrule’s new Hero. Neither Ganondorf nor Zelda suggested they could be wed instead, despite that the thought had crossed his mind and probably Zelda’s too.

“Yeah, but if we… They would think I rejected Link for you, and I… I’m not.” Zelda avoided looking at Ganondorf. “I just don’t want to give them any more reasons to think poorly of me.”

“Whoever thinks poorly of you is a poor judge of character.”

Zelda’s hands tightened on his elbows. “But I’m—”

“Don’t call yourself a freak.” Ganondorf stood up and walked over to Zelda. “You’re not.” Kneeling to be at eye level, he continued, “You are an incredible little spitfire.”

Zelda hesitantly met Ganondorf’s gaze. “It doesn’t feel like that’s a good thing.”

“That’s only because you let the weight of your kingdom and your father’s expectations put you out,” Ganondorf answered, putting his hand on Zelda’s shoulder. He was so much smaller, his palm covered his slender arm nearly down to his elbow. “Your spirit burns like Dinraal. It’s hard to contain something like that.”

“I guess.” Zelda averted his gaze again. Ganondorf’s hold was an anchoring weight, and he leaned into his touch without thinking. Zelda’s hands came up and held the Gerudo’s fingers and wrist.

Ganondorf studied Zelda for a moment. He rubbed Zelda’s collarbone with his thumb, debating if he should go farther and pull him into a hug. He refrained when Zelda’s willowy fingers pet the fine hairs on the back of Ganondorf’s hand. Softly, he asked, “Do you know why I still call you Kit?”

Zelda shook his head. “I figured it was just because it’s cute.”

“Well, yeah,” Ganondorf admitted, amused. Zelda’s feather-light touch sparked across his skin. “But it’s mostly because you’re not your namesakes. I don’t want to think about them when I’m thinking about you. That reason’s also why Nab and I always call each other by nicknames. She’s lucky to have a Sage as her namesake, but it’s still a heavy reputation to carry.”

“Boy, do I know.” Zelda sighed. He slipped out from beneath Ganondorf’s hand, but continued holding it. He traced the edges of Ganondorf’s knuckles, as if trying to commit its shape to memory. “Should I not call you Ganondorf then?”

“If you don’t mind,” he said. “I prefer Gan, but you can call me whatever you want.”

A smile flickered over Zelda’s face. “Even something dumb, like silky-pants?” He glanced at Ganondorf’s long legs and his characteristic desert clothes.

“I mean…” Ganondorf laughed. “Just, why?”

“I don’t know.” Zelda laughed too, unable to help himself. “It was just the first stupid thing I could think of.”

“I gave you a good nickname, and that’s what you come up with?”

“I can think of something better! I just… need more time to think of one.”

Ganondorf got back to his feet. “Well, you can have all night to decide,” he said, affectionately rubbing Zelda’s head.

“Hey!” Zelda batted away his hand, but couldn’t stop his grin. “Why do you get to mess up my hair if I can’t reach yours?”

“Because you seem to like it?”

Zelda stuck out his tongue.

Chuckling, Ganondorf went to his bed. “Go to sleep already. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Okay.” Reluctantly, Zelda walked to the door. “Goodnight, Gan.”

“Night, Kit.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Looking back over this chapter too, I'm remembering how many effing revisions it went through and the headaches it caused from trying to balance the speed of Gan and Kit's romance. One of my friends thought it was way too over the top, while another thought it was boring, and it just didn't seem like I could please anyone for a while.
> 
> I think I'm finally happy with the way it turned out, but I can't help but be curious about your thoughts about the two of them. I know a lot of people have already mentioned that they like Gan and Kit together. Most of my irl friends ship Kit with another character, however, so any ideas are fair game. ;) (And honestly, it's all still super up in the air how things are gonna go in book 2).


	43. “We’ll make them recognize the real you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, apparently yesterday was Friday? ^^; I got the dates of my bonus update and scheduled update mixed up, but regardless! The next chapter is here.

The king was in a foul mood when he and Zelda finally came outside and walked over to the castle bridge. It was nearly noon, despite that they had planned to leave early that morning. The horse and wagon were already loaded with camping supplies, climbing gear, and Ganondorf’s and Zelda’s bags. Link’s things were in the Sheikah slate. He was sitting on the coachman’s seat while Ganondorf was on the back of the wagon. Vaati was in his cloak and Impa was standing by his side. When they saw King Cornelius and Zelda come out of the castle, Impa asked, “What was the delay?”

Zelda cringed. “ _Please_ don’t—”

“Ghirahim wanted me to give Ganondorf my _blessing_ ,” the king retorted. “I had to make sure he hadn’t given Zelda any untoward ideas.”

Ganondorf face-palmed. His demon sword had the tact of a runaway guardian.

“Can we please just get going now?” Zelda asked, becoming pink again.

“No, wait just another minute,” the king answered, going to Ganondorf. “Do you desire my daughter?”

“Uh…” Ganondorf leaned away from the king’s piercing glare. He knew there was no way he could answer that question correctly, except maybe to tell him that Kit was a son, not a daughter. He missed the opportunity as the king continued yelling.

“I will not stand for any impure thoughts or inappropriate behavior.” The king jabbed his finger towards the ground. “Do you understand me? Zelda is the crown princess of Hyrule, and I will not have a lawless Gerudo defile her.”

“Father, _please_ …” Zelda groaned, burying his face in his hands.

Ganondorf held up his hands imploringly. “Sir, I promise I wasn’t—”

“Then why did your demon sword wake me this morning?” the king demanded.

“Because Ghirahim’s an idiot and he’s incapable of behaving well, even when he’s on my side,” Ganondorf answered, trying not to also lose his temper. “I’m sorry he woke you.”

“You’ll be sorry for much more if he causes more trouble!”

“I know, and I’ll talk to him as soon as he comes back. If he can’t restrain himself, I’ll keep him in his sheath.”

“You should have to begin with!”

“Probably, and I’m sorry for that. There isn’t anything more I can do.”

“Your Highness,” Impa said, interrupting the king before he could continue arguing. “We’ve already lost most of the morning. Perhaps we should let this rest so they can be on their way?”

King Cornelius frowned at her, but tersely nodded. “Very well.” He looked up at Link, who watched the exchange with secondhand embarrassment. “Keep them apart. If they come back and I learn he’s ruined my daughter’s dignity, I’ll hold you responsible.”

Link grimaced, but nodded with his hand. _“Yes, sir.”_

The king took a step back. “Now you may leave,” he said to Zelda.

Zelda bolted for the wagon and climbed into the back by the coach seat. As soon as he sat down, he folded his legs against his chest and hid his face in his arms and knees.

Impa sighed heavily. “Have a safe trip. As soon as Vaati is able, update us on your progress.”

“We will,” Ganondorf said. “We’ll return as soon as we can.” He looked back at Link and motioned for him to get the horse moving. As Link picked up the reins, Ganondorf pulled his legs up into the wagon and closed its back. He waved goodbye to Impa while they crossed over the moat into town.

When they came in sight of civilians in the central market, it was a weird experience for Ganondorf to draw their stares without trying to disguise himself. Those who spotted him first looked on with curiosity, but every time they recognized Link with him, their curiosity increased tenfold.

The knight was wearing his predecessor’s blue champion tunic at the front of the wagon. The Gerudo was wearing his sand-colored cloak over a bottle green voe spaulder sleeve. He didn’t have on any of his armor, but he had the master sword and Ghirahim’s sheath on his belt. His twin blades were in his bag. Zelda, though he was still hiding at the bottom of the wagon, was dressed in a burgundy shirt with charcoal pants. Ganondorf realized the irony of their color choices and wondered if any of the people watching them pass through Castle Town would realize the truth.

As their wagon passed a group of fascinated children, Ganondorf smiled and offered them a friendly wave. They erupted with excitement, turning to each other to confirm what they saw. Ganondorf chuckled. Nudging the Minish within the folds of his cloak, he said, “Hey, Vaati, look.”

“Hm?” Vaati groggily sat up and poked his head out of Ganondorf’s cloak. The children had followed after their wagon for a few paces before one of them reminded the others that it was rude to chase strangers. “Did you give them candy or something?” he asked, readjusting his purple cap.

“No, they just think I’m cool.” The wagon soon left them behind. Ganondorf settled down more comfortably. “Are you feeling better?” he asked, glancing down at Vaati.

“Rest and breakfast greatly helped,” Vaati answered. “I’m sorry I worried you.”

“It’s okay.” Ganondorf pet Vaati’s arm with his finger. “Was it just teleporting too much that did it?”

“I believe so. The more I transport, the more energy it takes. That last trip with all of your things took more out of me than I expected, and I suspect it was partly because I didn’t account for Ghirahim.”

“You weren’t really thinking straight by the end of the day either.”

“That is true.” Vaati nestled back down into his cloak. “Tell me if we pass anything particularly interesting.”

“All right.” Ganondorf continued watching the town pass by. After a minute, he glanced back down at Zelda. The royal heir had uncurled his legs, but still looked subdued as he fiddled with his ponytail. Ganondorf sighed. He had hoped that getting out of the castle would put the poor start to the morning behind them, but evidently it was still weighing on Zelda’s mind.

Ganondorf scooted over and pulled in his legs to sit across from Zelda. Leaning forward to be closer to eye level, he asked, “You okay?”

Zelda shrugged. He continued combing his fingers through his ponytail. He didn’t look up as he said quietly, “I’m sorry my father came at you like that.”

“It’s fine, Kit. He’s an asshole. Assholes do that.”

“Yeah, but… It still sucked.”

“Yeah.” Ganondorf went quiet, considering what else he could say. He was honestly surprised that the king let Zelda leave the castle at all. Whether that was a sign of grudging kindness or budding trust in him and his heir, he didn’t know. He wasn’t about to suggest either possibility until he saw more evidence.

“Just try to forget about it,” Ganondorf said eventually. “Look at your people.” He gestured at the storefronts around them. They were almost all entirely new buildings with fresh stone and timbers, but occasionally they passed ones that incorporated the blackened stone from the original town. These old walls had bronze plaques to explain what they had been previously, if it was known. “We’re going to the Great Plateau to protect all of this.”

Zelda reluctantly looked up. He saw a milk bar playing live music in its outdoor seating area, but his expression remained subdued. “None of these people think I’m a man.” He sunk back down in the wagon. “If they do, it’s because they don’t recognize me.”

“Well, we’ll make them recognize the real you.”

Zelda bit his lip and didn’t answer. A moment passed. “I don’t know what the real me is supposed to be.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, if you’ve taken the Hero’s role, and Link is basically taking mine…” He tugged harder on his ponytail. “There’s nothing left for me but the villain.”

“You’re no more a villain than I was.” Ganondorf studied Zelda for a moment, trying to decipher the royal heir’s thoughts. “Why would you think you’re supposed to take that role?”

“I don’t, but my father said…” Zelda saw Ganondorf roll his eyes. “I know I shouldn’t listen to him, but he had a point. The Triforce of Power has only ever been used for evil. Wisdom guides the kingdom and Courage protects it, but Power has only ever been used to destroy it.”

Vaati poked his head out of Ganondorf’s cloak. “Technically that’s not true,” the Minish said. “When Power was united with the other pieces in other timelines, the kingdom prospered.”

“But they’re not really united.” Zelda held out his right hand and looked at his mark. “Our pieces don’t react to each other, and only Gan has figured out how to use his.”

“Does your limitless magic not count?” Ganondorf asked, raising an eyebrow.

“No. Compared to your abilities, it’s not that special anymore.”

Ganondorf hummed in response, glancing down at his hand. “Maybe they’d react if you and Link got yours to do something similar?”

“How? Put ourselves in danger repeatedly like you?”

“I mean… maybe?”

Link tucked the reins between his knees and turned around. He tapped the side of the wagon to get their attention before he signed, _“We can go to sacred springs and pray. Past princesses’ diaries stress their importance.”_

Since Vaati translated for Ganondorf, the Gerudo answered, “If we can get the Sheikah slate’s teleportation working again, we might as well go visit them and try.”

“If we can’t teleport, is it really worth it for me to make the trek again?” Zelda asked. “I’ve already visited all of them.”

_“Before you didn’t know your Triforce. Now we know what to ask. Besides, when Vaati is better, he can go with Rito messenger to bring us to springs.”_

“Right.” Zelda frowned, wondering then if he would have to wear his ceremonial shift. If he had to go pray in the Goddesses’ waters again, he would rather stand before them as a man.

Link turned his attention back to the road. They exited Castle Town soon later and passed the Sacred Ground. He had been knighted there on its restored round stone stage just last year, but after all that had happened within the past month, it felt like another lifetime ago.

They continued east and then turned south to enter Mabe Village. The new settlement was built upon the charred foundation of its namesake, and it was well-known for its neighbor, Lon Lon Ranch’s fresh milk. A descendant of the original owners had returned to their family’s land and restarted the farm.

The whole area of quilted fields and homesteads was plenty familiar to Link. It was where he was born, and where his family still lived.


	44. “You can’t fix everyone’s problems.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We've reached the first of the chapters I added *after* I finished writing this story, and I have to say, I'm quite proud of how it turned out. Going back and adding new material to older stuff, now that I have a better perspective on all of my characters, was really nice.
> 
> If you want to see a direction I almost took at this point in the story, check out this bonus ficlet, [A Side Quest in Mabe Village (alternate chapter 44)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24958432). It ends pretty abruptly because I realized halfway through a scene that I was bored with it, but it's a fun glimpse into my writing process and how far I've come. (I'm pretty sure it was written around December/January, compared to this new chapter, which I finished in June.)
> 
> I've put all of these ficlets into a new series, [Bonus content from Not My Namesake](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1806355). So far, in addition to the alternate chapter 44, we have [baby Gan in the Sacred Realm](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24933886); the [fluff that was originally in chapter 3](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24957313); and [a short story about Gan's father, Sebastes](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24975364) after he learns that he has a son. I'm particularly excited about sharing stuff about Gan's father because he's an important character in book 2, so this story about him is a little bit of a (spoiler-free) sneak peek into that project.

As Link slowed the horse to a walk, many people in Mabe Village recognized him. They smiled, lifting the brims of straw hats or their hands to welcome him and his friends. Link smiled and waved in return. The sun and their pride in him pleasantly warmed his face.

It had been nearly a year since the last time Link visited home, but hardly anything had changed. Outside the handful of stores and his neighbors’ houses were new perennials planted in window boxes and garden beds. The kids playing ball in the road looked a little older. A fence was being built and a few knights were now stationed near the town entrances to ward off revived ’blins. That was the change that made Link’s smile falter for just a moment, the reminder that not even his hometown had been spared from the monster attacks. He didn’t want to imagine again how bad things must have been during the night of the blood moon. He had already lost too much sleep over it.

When Link turned the wagon off the road onto a dirt driveway, Zelda looked confused at their surroundings. “Are we stopping here?” Two goats were munching on tuffs of grass by a wire fence. Cuccos strut about and pecked at the dirt around a coop. One of them was perched on its roof. At the end of the driveway was a wooden house with a wide porch. Beneath a hanging bench was a sleeping Hylian retriever.

Link laughed. _“This is my family’s house.”_

“What?” Zelda bolted upright and did a double-take at it. “Really?” They had talked about visiting Link’s family for lunch during dinner last night, but their arrival still somehow took Zelda by surprise. He blamed his father for forgetting. Because of their late start that morning, lunch as a concept completely escaped his mind.

Ganondorf sat up and smiled at the house. Vaati didn’t catch whatever Link signed to Zelda and thus couldn’t translate, but the Gerudo figured out where they were based on context clues. “What’s the dog’s name?”

Link made a sign that looked like scratching his chin, then finger-spelled the word, _“Honey.”_ Once Vaati translated for Ganondorf, Link added, _“She’s a girl. My sister named her Honey because she really loves honey candy.”_

“Your sister or Honey?” Ganondorf asked, grinning.

 _“Yes.”_ Link laughed. _“They fight over it when I make it.”_

Ganondorf remembered the honey candy Zelda had the knight make for him. Each piece somehow had a hard shell, a soft center, and a subtle, zesty wildberry flavor. It was easy to imagine wanting to fight over such a treat. The memory made him wish he still had the rest of the bag. It had been left behind in the castle dungeon when Ghirahim took him back to the Yiga hideout.

As Link stopped the horse and hopped off the wagon to unhitch her, the front door opened and a blonde little girl ran down the porch steps. “Link!”

The knight barely got his arms up before she tackled him in a hug and pressed her face into his chest. Her speeding footsteps and shout woke up Honey, who lifted up her head and ears with a start. She gave a wide yawn and stretched out her paws in front of herself, scratching her nails into the worn wood. She carefully plodded down off the porch and wagged her tail.

Zelda jumped off the wagon to try to woo Honey. Ganondorf laughed as the royal heir patted his legs and called her name repeatedly in increasingly silly voices. The dog ignored him. She was more interested in sniffing at Link’s pockets. Zelda hung his head with a huff, defeated.

Link’s mother came outside and gave the group an exasperated smile. Her hair was tied up in a buttercup bandanna, and there were little cucco chicks embroidered along the top of her apron. “Hello!” she called from the porch. “I’m Link’s mom, Medilia. I was wondering if you were still coming. Lunch’s been waiting for nearly two hours.”

Link patted his sister’s shoulder to make her let go of him and signed, _“Sorry. We left late.”_ Gesturing to each of his friends, he continued, _“This is Zelda, Ganondorf, and Vaati. Vaati’s a Picori, but I think he will let you see him.”_

“A Picori?!” Link’s sister spun towards Ganondorf and noticed the Minish on his shoulder. “Oh my gosh!” She clapped her hands over her cheeks and squealed, jumping up and down. “It’s real!”

Vaati sunk down lower in the folds of Ganondorf’s cloak. “It’s _still_ Minish,” he muttered.

“Aw, is he shy?” She stepped closer and stood on her toes to try to see Vaati better. Then she seemed to realize just how much bigger Ganondorf was than the average man and openly ogled him. “Whoa. You’re really tall.”

Ganondorf laughed. “Yes, I am.” Link’s sister was as short as Vaati in his Hylian form, but it was hard for him to tell if her height was just because of her age or if it ran in the family. “What’s your name?”

“Aryll!” She grabbed Honey and rubbed the fur around her head. “And this is Honey! She’s half deaf, so we sign her name like this.” She made the same chin scratching sign Link made earlier.

“Enough gabbing outside, kids,” Medilia called. “Come into the house so we can eat.”

 _“Okay,”_ Link answered. _“Let me just get the horse taken care of.”_

“Let me help!” Aryll reached for the horse’s bridle.

Link pushed her away to make sure the horse couldn’t accidentally step on her. _“You’re not wearing boots. Go help Mom and show my friends around.”_

“Aw, okay.” Aryll turned back to Ganondorf and Zelda. “Come on! I wanna introduce you to the cuccos first.”

Zelda shared a look with Ganondorf, feeling out of his element, but the Gerudo looked back at him with an amused shrug. There was no sense in denying the girl’s enthusiasm.

By the time Link got the horse’s tack off and set up with a water bucket, Aryll had picked up and introduced every one of their two dozen cuccos. She explained that most of their family’s money came from selling eggs and chicks, but it didn’t make a lot, and paying for her dad’s medicine was expensive, which is why they relied on Link’s stipend as a knight to make ends meet.

Zelda frowned when Aryll mentioned that. “What does your father take medicine for?”

“His back.” Aryll’s previously cheerful demeanor grew subdued. She slowly pet the cucco she was holding. It remained still, clucking quietly. “He broke it six years ago and it didn’t heal right, so he needs it to get around the house and do stuff like yard work.”

“Oh.” Zelda reeled at the news. Link never mentioned his father was hurt.

“Dad doesn’t like it when we talk about it, so don’t tell him I told you, okay?”

“Why?” Zelda asked.

“He thinks it makes him a bad dad, even though it doesn’t.” Aryll put down the cucco she was holding and watched it strut away. “I think he’s the best dad.”

Zelda stood at a loss for words. Ganondorf noticed and felt the same, but he put on a smile for Aryll. “I’m sure he is. You want to introduce us to him?”

Aryll brightened up again. “Yeah! He’s inside.” She skipped ahead and waited on the porch for them to catch up.

Link’s father, Arn, was seated at the kitchen table when everyone came inside. He looked older than Zelda remembered, more haggard and grey at the temples, but his expression was warm and he had blue eyes like his son. It wasn’t obvious that there was anything wrong with his back, but Zelda assumed he must have been hurting now because he didn’t stand to greet them.

“It’s nice to see you again, Princess,” Arn said. “You’ve grown up a lot.”

“Oh, yeah.” Zelda put on his political pleasantries face. “It’s nice to see you too.” The last time he had seen Arn was when he had visited the castle some years ago, and Zelda mentally cringed when he remembered he had still been using female pronouns back then. He hoped Link reminded his family before they came that he was a man. He wondered if Arn stopped visiting the castle because of his back.

Arn then turned to greet Ganondorf. While Aryll introduced them and told Ganondorf about the herbs she was growing on the kitchen windowsill, Zelda went to help Link and Medilia put lunch on the table, though his help was mostly just ogling at the delicious food. His mother had made cream of mushroom soup, fresh wheat bread, salt-grilled greens, glazed carrots, and two whole roasted cuccos.

Lunch itself went rather well. The cuccos were a little dried out from sitting in a warm oven for so long, but the hot buttered apples they had for dessert more than made up for it. Link’s parents forgot Zelda’s pronouns, but after Link pointed it out, they at least tried to correct themselves. Zelda’s only real complaint was how long they were spending at Link’s house. He didn’t say anything, of course, but luckily he didn’t need to.

“I don’t mean to chase you out,” Medilia said when they finished eating, “but I know you got a long way to go still. Where’re you staying tonight?”

Link’s expression screwed up in thought. He took out the Sheikah slate and opened up the map. Dragging it around and zooming out, he put Mabe Village in the top right corner. His eyes traced the road to a fork in the southwest. _“Hyrule Garrison. We’ll stay with knights.”_

“Can we not go farther?” Zelda asked. The plan was to make it at least to the Exchange by the end of the day.

_“No. We left late. We will be lucky if we make it by nightfall. More likely we will arrive after dinner.”_

Zelda sighed and refrained from showing too much displeasure. “Okay then.”

“Thank you for having us,” Ganondorf said, looking at Link’s parents and his sister. “Everything was delicious.”

Aryll sat up and leaned on the table. “Thank you for coming! Come back and visit again, okay?”

Ganondorf smiled. “We’ll try.”

“Aryll, get off the table and help me clear the dishes,” Medilia said, gathering plates.

“I can help.” Ganondorf got up and picked up his own plate.

“Oh, don’t trouble yourself, you’re a guest.”

“You sure?”

While Ganondorf and Medilia politely argued about clean up and whether to send the growing boys off with the leftovers, Zelda left his dishes on the table and said to Link, “Let’s get the horse hitched back up.”

Link looked reluctant to leave his family again so soon, but nodded and followed Zelda outside. They walked to barn attached to the house, which was once meant for cows but now only held swallow nests in the rafters and their horse.

Quietly, as Link slipped on the horse’s collar, Zelda asked the question that had been weighing on his mind all through lunch. “How’d your father hurt his back?”

Link paused midway through fastening one of the traces to the collar. He made a tight-lipped expression and sighed. He finished fastening the buckle before he signed, _“Aryll told you.”_

“Yeah?” Zelda stared at the knight, struggling to understand his reaction. “Why didn’t you tell me? We could’ve sent healers from the castle or _something._ ”

 _“Dad didn’t want special treatment. He got hurt just like any other farmer. Worked too hard.”_ Link walked around Zelda to get the horse’s saddle and breeching.

“So? That’s stupid.”

Link’s hands continued to be occupied with the horse’s saddle and breeching while he slung it over her. Zelda made an aggravated sound, knowing that Link was using it as an excuse not to answer him.

“Would you please just talk to me?”

Link tightened a buckle with a hard tug and faced Zelda. _“What do you want me to say? That my father is wrong for hiding his disability?”_ He clenched his hands and dropped them to his sides, turning away his face.

“Link…” Zelda didn’t know what to say. “You don’t have to be ashamed.”

 _“It’s not shame,”_ Link sharply signed. _“It’s anger. We don’t want to be defined by our limitations.”_

“But I wouldn’t—”

 _“You didn’t need to know.”_ Link grabbed the horse’s collar and gestured for Zelda to follow him to the wagon.

“I would’ve wanted to help.”

_“You can’t fix everyone’s problems. We have our pride and we do what we can on our own. ‘Your people’ learned how to live without kings and princesses, and we’ve never forgotten it was the Hyrules who let the kingdom fall.”_

Zelda stared at Link, speechless. He blinked and his eyebrows furrowed together. “Is that what you really think? That Hyrule would’ve been better off without the royal family?”

Link grimaced. _“No. But…”_

“That’s what your parents think.” Link didn’t deny it. Zelda crossed his arms and swore under his breath. “If my own people think of me like this, no wonder Ganondorf’s mothers hate us.”

Link merely nodded. He headed back to his house to say goodbye to family. There was no point reiterating why his parents felt that way; their only son had been enlisted for service when he was six years old. Despite the prosperity the Hyrules brought to the kingdom overall after they were reestablished, they couldn’t forget that dead legends and a paranoid king split apart their family and robbed his father of much-needed help.

Zelda hung back while Link went inside, wondering what was even the point of their trip anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 10/26/2020 note: previously it was stated that Link was taken to train as a knight when he was three, but I've changed it so now he was six years old. (His Triforce mark appeared when he was three, but his parents managed to keep it hidden for three years. His mark was discovered when some of Link's playmates noticed it and told their parents, who then told the castle).


	45. “I’m not your servant!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's the 4th of July this Saturday, so I'm uploading tomorrow's update today because I'm probably going to be too busy lighting things on fire to get onto my computer. I got a ton of sparklers and fountains for my sis, bf, and one of our friends to play with. It sucks that we're not going to be able to go see big fireworks or the local festival that happens near our town every year because of physical distancing and all that, but we'll still have a little party of our own.
> 
> For all you other Americans out there, I hope you have a safe and fun weekend.

Ghirahim didn’t know what was wrong with him. He should have enjoyed riling up the king that morning. He had expected to delight in listening to the king lecture Zelda about proper courtship and decorum behind the royal heir’s bedroom door. Instead it just left him frustrated. When he watched the king further embarrass Zelda and yell at Ganondorf from up on the observation room balcony over the moat bridge, he only felt worse. Ghirahim figured his little games were unsatisfying because he wasn’t the one personally making them squirm, but when he went to harass the castle servants afterwards, he still didn’t find it as fun as it used to be. He returned to his rooms in the Yiga hideout rather than try to annoy Ganondorf again. It was difficult to tease him now that the power between them had shifted.

Lounging on his throne, balancing the knifepoint of a diamond-shaped dagger on his finger, Ghirahim sighed, vexed by the confusing _feelings_ he was having. He struggled to pinpoint what it was about his and Ganondorf’s fight that had unsettled him so much. The Gerudo’s victory over him should have been a good thing. He was finally strong enough to be worthy of the title _master_. But, as he thought back further, he supposed he started feeling strange after their argument about Nabooru. It _had_ made him _actually_ try to find a way to restore her, despite that light magic had never been his forte.

He had snuck into the castle’s library to search its texts for a cure while Twinrova interrogated Ganondorf, and he had checked multiple other libraries across the kingdom. He even tried to get through the Lost Woods himself, but his power – despite its vast strength – still wasn’t enough to thwart the Deku Tree’s cursed fog. It was only after he had exhausted every option that he talked the twins into giving Ganondorf a break. It surprised them greatly, that Ghirahim would ask for mercy on his master’s behalf. It surprised himself even more.

Ghirahim had watched Ganondorf grow from a drooling infant, to a spoiled brat, to a cantankerous adolescent, and never wavered in his patience for his old master to reawaken and recognize him again. It had never bothered him before to see Ganondorf suffer. The pain was necessary, always temporary, and rarely that excessive. Ghirahim really rather enjoyed all the ways he could tease the young Gerudo, too. The sparks of indignation it elicited was a guilty pleasure, as he knew Demise would have never let him get away with such behavior if he remembered himself. Yet it was also with surprise when he had realized it was even more fun to switch roles and be the teacher instead of the student in the art of combat. He had thought it would be tiresome, going over basics with such a slow, fragile creature. Instead, he found himself quite proud of each of Ganondorf’s minute accomplishments. Not that he ever expressed such pride, but it was there nevertheless.

Now, finally and yet too suddenly, Ganondorf had become a fierce young man. And he still wasn’t Demise. Ghirahim’s moment of confusion somehow only solidified the distinction. Yet knowing this, Ganondorf wasn’t someone he entirely disliked either. His roguish streak was a far cry from Demise’s vicious pleasures, but it was endearing in its own way. What the Gerudo lacked in ruthless efficiency, he made up for with effervescent tenaciousness and wry humor. Ghirahim always assumed Ganondorf would grow into the traits he lacked, but it was clear now that their personalities simply weren’t similar enough to continue believing it was just amnesia. And now, ever since Ganondorf had defeated him with his Triforce, Ghirahim began to remember flashes of times he had forgotten, uncomfortable memories he didn’t realize he had.

He was never really Demise’s _slave_ , as Ganondorf so rudely put it… was he?

Ghirahim’s hand wavered and his dagger toppled off his finger. He lurched to catch it, but it slipped past his fingers and clattered to the floor. The sound made his breath catch and he winced. He relived a moment of falling, not by a disarming, but because he had been thrown down. The fragmented recollection passed as soon as it came over him. Ghirahim exhaled forcefully and sat up to reach down for his dropped dagger. After he picked it up, he gripped its handle tightly. What good was a fallen weapon?

Rather than teleport, as was his usual method to cross any distance, he walked to his sparring room and flicked the dagger at one of his dummies. The blade embedded itself directly between its eyes. Ghirahim walked down the wall showcasing his collection, absentmindedly trailing his fingers over leather grips and sharp edges.

Ghirahim didn’t know what would happen if Demise actually did reawaken now. He always assumed his master would remember everything when his full strength returned. It was supposed to be as simple as waking from a dream, that their lives would go back to the way they were, but he wasn’t quite sure what that was anymore. Worse, he was now torn by the thought of losing Ganondorf in the process. Could such different people exist within the same person? And if Ghirahim’s fragmented memories were to be trusted, was he really willing to make the trade if they couldn’t?

These doubts aggravated Ghirahim. Selecting a windcleaver, he swung and released a blade of air at his sparring dummies. They rattled on their stands under the force of the blow.

If Ghirahim had known Twinrova were going to abandon their end of the bargain, he would have never asked them to give Ganondorf a break or let them finish their divine beast. Vah Tempestrova would have never rivaled Demise that way, and Ganondorf wouldn’t have been able to go get that farce of a living sword. Never mind that it was he himself who told the Gerudo to play at being the Hero. Ghirahim didn’t even know why he had told him to do such an asinine thing.

What was the point of protecting a kingdom that cared nothing for them?

The answer whispered in the back of his mind as quiet memories: sunset fireflies blinking into being, illuminating dark woods; voltfruit flowers blooming in the rain after a period of drought; and the moment when the sky clears for a scarce few minutes over a frozen, windy mountain. He rarely sought out these sorts of places and told no one when he did. They always filled him with a mix of regret and longing. For what, he never knew. Now he wondered if they were somehow related to other memories he also didn’t remember having.

Ghirahim put back the windcleaver and teleported to the southern point of Dueling Peaks. He sat down on the head of one of two Jizō statues. It afforded a perfect view of the Gerudo Highlands, Hyrule field, and the castle. Frigid wind flew around Ghirahim, tugging at his cape and bangs, but the cold was a mere afterthought. A waning gibbous moon cast silver light over the land and the countless little villages and towns that had sprung up during his dormancy.

It was _his_ , this land – Ghirahim knew it as certainly as his own name, despite not really understanding his attachment – and yet not a single thought was ever spared for him. Only Demise acknowledged his power. At least until Twinrova reawakened him, anyway, but their respect was tainted by their ever-growing insanity. It was perhaps a bit of the pot calling the kettle black, knowing that he was considered insane, but he didn’t feel particularly mad. But then again, who ever lost their marbles and didn’t think they still had a full bag?

Lightning flashed and thunder sounded distantly from the desert. Ghirahim turned and saw the pinprick of Gerudo Tower’s orange glow become red-violet. Whatever Twinrova was up to now couldn’t have been good. Did they push their plans ahead of schedule?

A sense of unease filled Ghirahim. He teleported to the bottom of the pit and faced the massive, serpentine divine beast. Its two cobra-shaped heads were curled around the tower’s base. Its body looked like a stalmoblin spine, and Malice flowed between its vertebrae. Countless tubes pulsing with more dark energy connected the abomination to tunnels excavated beneath the Highlands. Three guardian stalkers patrolled the area. Countless guardian scouts scuttled to and from the tunnels, carrying out stone or transporting tools. Two Yiga members employed as research assistants, clearly Gerudo by their statue despite their uniforms masking their features, were overseeing the scouts and the flow of Malice, unconcerned at the altered state of the Gerudo Tower. Twinrova were nowhere to be seen, but Ghirahim knew they had to be inside Vah Tempestrova.

Ghirahim’s unease did not abate as he teleported into the divine beast. Power that could rival Hylia’s light thrummed through its walls. More guardian scouts crawled around the cavernous space, working like termites in their nest. Twinrova were pecking at the terminal of the Main Control Unit, a structure that always reminded Ghirahim of a Great Fairy’s flower bud. It sat at the junction of tunnels between Tempestrova’s heads and the rest of its body. More tubes of Malice lay tangled on the concave floor and the walls around Twinrova and the terminal, splitting off from a large pipe fed in through the ceiling. The twins’ faces were illuminated by the electric blue energy of their modified ancient tools.

“Mesdames,” Ghirahim stated, bowing deeply. “If I didn’t know any better, I would say you two are plugged in to Malice as much as your beast. Need you no rest anymore?” He stepped over gurgling, pulsing tubes to stand behind the twins.

“Our work is more important,” Koume answered without looking up from the terminal’s radiant circuit boards. She was using a glowing, needle-like tool to reroute light connections.

Kotake glanced up at Ghirahim while she held a tray of other tools. “What have you been up to?”

“Oh, the usual.” Ghirahim shrugged. “Pestering Ganny, running amok, playing with my toys.” One of the guardian scouts scurried behind him, brushing against his cape. He scowled at it as it went into one of Tempestrova’s heads. 

Koume swapped out her needle tool for a tiny screwdriver from Kotake’s tray. “He still sulking in his room?”

“He actually visited me yesterday, if you’ll believe it.” Ghirahim gave them a sly smile. “I gave him a good whipping in my sparring room.”

“Good.” Koume moved the circuit board she was fixing back to its place and began tightening the screws to reattach it.

“If he’s fit, we will need you to bring him to us in the morning,” Kotake said. “We’re going to extract his Triforce.”

Ghirahim recoiled. “What?”

“Don’t make such a fuss over it,” Koume said, waving her screwdriver at him.

“It’s going to waste in his hands, anyway,” Kotake added.

Koume turned back to the terminal and tightened the circuit board’s last screw. “What difference does it make if your _master_ has it or not?” She said the title with derision, knowing well that it was a lie.

“A lot, thank you very much!” Ghirahim retorted. “I won’t have you neuter him just to further power this repugnant invention.”

Koume put back her screwdriver and narrowed her eyes at the demon. “This is not a demand up for debate.”

“Oh, ho ho!” Ghirahim laughed scathingly. “Not for debate? I’m not your servant! My deference to your wishes thus far has been borne by mutual purposes, but if you think you can revise those terms without my consent, more than your beast has a few screws loose!”

Koume and Kotake shared a look. Wordlessly, Kotake set aside their tray of tools and Koume reclosed the door on the terminal. The two of them got to their feet and stood over Ghirahim. As they both laid their hands on the top of the terminal, Koume asked, “Have you really deluded yourself into thinking you were our equal?”

“You are a weapon,” Kotake said.

“And weapons are meant to be used!”

The Main Control Unit flashed red-violet. A click and hiss sounded, and two tubes of Malice disconnected from it. Raw, purple-black sludge pumped over the floor. As it spread and bubbled, glowing eyeballs rose on sticky tendrils. Gaping mouths with mismatched teeth parted and belched cursed moblin skulls.

“Gah!” Ghirahim leapt back before the Malice could spill over his feet and stain his leotard. He summoned his shadow saber and struck down a chattering skull. “You dare—!”

Kotake cut off his retort with a barrage of ice shards. They cut his cheek and tore his cape before he teleported out of the line of fire. With a sneer, she said, “We do.”

Ghirahim narrowly avoided a whip of Koume’s fire as he reappeared. Deflecting another cursed moblin, he snarled, “I’ll make you regret turning your tricks against me.”

Koume didn’t reward his threat with a response. Instead she threw more fire. The mouths of Malice continued spitting out cursed monster skulls. Guardian scouts poured in from all the tunnels around them and began shooting rapid laser blasts.

As Ghirahim dodged her flames, deflected the lasers, and destroyed the bobbling enemies, ice spears erupted beneath his feet. The demon leapt aside before they could impale him, but he lost his footing on one of the many tubes littering the floor. Koume caught his arm with a fire whip. It burned his skin and he screamed. Teleporting out of her grip, he reappeared only to be caught under another torrent of hail and multiple laser blasts.

Ghirahim swore through his teeth, pulling his onyx skin over himself. The ice shattered against his diamond-hard body, but the lasers continued to sting.

“Do you submit yet?” Koume shouted, catching him again with her fire whip.

“We’ll forgive your insolence if you give up,” Kotake taunted.

“Never!” Ghirahim summoned a second shadow saber and cut Koume’s whip. He lunged at her, only to be blocked by a wall of ice spears. He shattered them with a cross-strike of his blades. As fragments fell, a guardian stalker crawled in through the ceiling. The scouts continued peppering Ghirahim with small blasts while the stalker charged its beam.

Ghirahim had a passing thought that he should teleport to the safety of his rooms, but he could not bear to be considered a coward or quitter. He pressed onward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a fun chapter to write when I was in the middle of figuring out this story, and it came as a surprise that I actually ended up including it. I started the scene just as an exploration of Ghirahim's character, just trying to get into his head, and then everything with Twinrova just happened without any real planning. It's the things the twins have done in this chapter (off screen, mostly) that actually ended up setting up a lot of the conflict in book 2, because of course the things I write on a whim have lasting consequences.


	46. “My kingdom’s falling apart…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're finally starting my favorite part of this fic - the point where we get all five of my boys together. The question remains, however; can they actually _work_ together? ;)

Link flinched awake in his bunk at Hyrule Garrison just before he heard a distant crack of thunder. A nameless sense of alarm filled him, and with uncanny certainty, he knew it was not from a forgotten nightmare. He rolled over and leaned over his bunk to look at Zelda sleeping on the bed underneath him. Ganondorf was snoring on a mattress he had pulled onto the floor beside their bunk, as his long legs didn’t fit within the knights’ bedframes. On top of Ganondorf’s bag was Vaati, nestled into the Gerudo’s clothes. All of them were undisturbed, and the thunder didn’t wake any of the knights in their sleeping quarters either.

Link slowly climbed out of his bunk and pulled on his boots. He didn’t know what his premonition was trying to tell him, but he wanted to be ready for whatever it was. It was the first sign his efforts meditating on his Triforce were paying off. He had spent all of his time in Lost Woods trying to tune into its divine knowledge, and while everyone was busy getting ready for dinner yesterday evening, he had gone to the library with King Cornelius to collect the past princesses’ diaries and restricted books about the Triforce, the Sacred Realm, and the royal family’s relationship to the Golden Goddesses. He hadn’t been able to read nearly as much as he had hoped to get through in the past day and a half.

Since he was awake now, Link figured he might as well follow his intuition. He belted on the Sheikah slate and snuck outside.

The guards on night duty waved to him in greeting, giving him a questioning look. Link nodded back and signed, _“Going for a walk.”_

The guards were satisfied with this answer and let him proceed. Torches burned along the other buildings of the garrison, but silver moonlight filled the gaps between the fires. Link walked out to the main road and stopped by the fountain that stood in its center. While the water babbled behind him, he looked towards Mabe Village, though he couldn’t see it over the rolling green hills. At the other end of the road was a thicket of trees and a hill called Mount Daphnes. Down a branching road was Windvane Meadow.

Most of the meadow was overtaken by farm fields, but he remembered that his and Zelda’s namesakes defeated Dark Beast Ganon on that flat plain three generations ago. It was hard to imagine how a century of ruin could end and be replaced so suddenly by a century of prosperity. Link took the branching road to the edge of the garrison and surveyed the land. Dueling Peaks stood in the distance before him. He turned towards his left to look at the castle, which seemed hardly bigger than a dollhouse on its hill. To his left, he saw a small section of the Great Plateau and the impressive wall of the Gerudo Highlands. He sensed something was afoot in its canyons, but he couldn’t see beyond its outer edge.

Knowing he would be unable to sleep until either his premonition passed or he solved its riddle, Link walked over to a tree and sat down against its trunk. The grass was cool and slightly damp with dew. He had a hunch that something bad was going to arrive in the field before him, but it wasn’t a certain enough feeling to warrant waking his companions. He unhooked the Sheikah slate and pulled out the diary of the Twilight Era princess. The recollection of her time ruling a kingdom enshrouded in darkness was a compelling read, though at times overwhelmingly grim. He flipped open the diary to his bookmark.

Link only got through a handful of pages before he heard a sound like glass wind chimes. He looked up just as Ghirahim appeared a few yards away. The demon was in his true form, onyx skin latticed with pearlescent white lines, but the diamond on his chest was fractured and throbbing orange. Before Link could even rise to his feet, Ghirahim wavered and fell face-down into the grass.

Link rushed to his side. Before he could touch the unconscious demon, fear caught up with the knight. It paralyzed his hands. This was the being who had nearly killed him. Had given him nightmares. Haunted his thoughts. And proved just how little Link measured up to his namesake. Even now, despite that the demon was supposedly on Ganondorf’s side, Ghirahim was still causing him and Zelda grief, such as he did with his stunt of waking up the king to ask for his blessing. As far as Link was aware, Ghirahim had yet to do _anything_ good for any of them.

But Ghirahim was also obviously hurt. No matter Link’s feelings about the embodiment of his insecurities, he couldn’t abandon a wounded man. His field training kicked in and guided his hands to turn Ghirahim onto his back. The air felt warm over the broken, angry orange center of his chest, like an uncovered stove. Link shook the demon’s shoulders and managed to utter a sound of concern to try to wake him. Ghirahim didn’t respond. His breathing was short and shallow. Despite knowing nothing about non-Hylian physiology, Link realized he wasn’t just hurt. He was dying.

Panic overtaking him again, Link jumped up and thought, _“Zelda!”_ He left Ghirahim in the grass and ran back to the garrison.

* * *

Zelda jerked awake when he heard Link shout his name. “Huh?” He sat up and rubbed his eyes, confused when no one else seemed to be up. “Link?” He swung his legs out of bed and looked up at Link’s bunk, but the knight wasn’t in bed. He gasped and turned to Ganondorf on the ground.

“Gan!” Zelda shouted, shaking his arm to wake him. “Get up! Link needs our help.”

Flinching, Ganondorf opened his eyes and instinctively reached towards his back for a sword that wasn’t there. He had left the master sword and his twin blades by his backpack. He glanced at them before looking groggily at Zelda. “What’s going on?”

“Link—” Zelda started to say, but then he heard footsteps run into the sleeping quarters and saw the knight. “You’re all right!”

Link frantically shook his head. _“Ghirahim’s hurt. Come with me.”_

Though Link was signing, Zelda was baffled when he also heard his voice in his head. Ganondorf recoiled as though he had heard him speak as well. Neither of them questioned it, though, as they rushed to follow Link. Zelda grabbed his rapier on the way out, and Ganondorf grabbed Vaati to heal the demon. The Minish squeaked, startled to be woken so abruptly.

“What’s happening?” Vaati asked, disoriented and frightened. “Why…?” He trailed off when they got outside and saw Ghirahim laying in the grass. The throbbing orange glow of his chest crystal was dimming with each pulse. “Oh fuck…”

 _“He appeared like this and passed out,”_ Link signed anxiously, even as he unwittingly continued to speak telepathically. _“I don’t know what to do.”_

Vaati jumped out of Ganondorf’s hand and switched to his Hylian form. “Do you have any fairy tonic?” he asked, kneeling beside the demon. Ganondorf knelt down on the other side of Ghirahim.

 _“I think,”_ Link signed before he picked up the Sheikah slate. As he flicked through its inventory, his thoughts continued, _“I know I saw one in here, but did I…? No, I had one of the red potions.”_

Hearing Link’s thoughts startled Zelda even more than just hearing his voice with his signs. He was about to say something, but Vaati called his name.

“Zelda, give me your hand,” Vaati said, holding out his. “I’m going to try to borrow some of your power.”

“Oh.” Zelda was forcibly reminded of the crisis at hand. “Take everything you need.” He set down his rapier and clasped Vaati’s small fingers. He hadn’t thought he would care if Ghirahim was killed, but now that the possibility was suddenly before them, the thought terrified him. Ghirahim could have gone anywhere in the world. Instead, for some unfathomable reason, he was entrusting them with his survival.

Link got out the fairy tonic and held it out with a questioning look. _“What should I do?”_

“Keep it ready.” Vaati took a deep breath and tightened his hold on Zelda’s hand. The last time he had taken another’s energy, it was to extract the Light Force from Zelda’s namesake. The process nearly killed her. If he accidentally pulled from Zelda’s life energy instead of his Triforce, he feared the same result. Yet he picked up the thread of Power easily. Guilty memories returned to him as its intoxicating strength rushed through him. Vaati pushed aside the dark thoughts and put his hand on Ghirahim. He winced at the contact.

The demon was hemorrhaging raw magic.

Vaati continued to grimace as he tried to reverse the flow, but it was like trying to catch air from a deflating octo balloon. They needed something to contain it. “Gan,” he said, struggling to force energy back into Ghirahim as quickly as he lost it, “get his sheath.”

“Got it.” Ganondorf ran back into the garrison.

 _“Oh, Hylia…”_ Link watched Ganondorf run off and turned back towards Ghirahim. His hands were gripping the fairy tonic and his knees. _“He’s going to die, isn’t he? I can’t—would that be good? But he’s still… It’s wrong. Oh my Goddess, this is wrong, but…”_ His thoughts continued disjointedly, airing his panic despite his attempt to keep his face composed.

The mark on Zelda’s hand tingled. The magic flowing through his body was giving him a heady, drunk feeling. Staring at Ghirahim, he asked, “What happened to him?”

“I don’t know,” Vaati answered. “Something inside him was torn open and I don’t know how to close it. He’s not a physical being like us. I can’t repair a spiritual wound.”

Zelda wondered what could cause such an injury. The obvious people behind it were Twinrova, but he couldn’t fathom how their Malice or ancient tech could kill a demon. The bigger question was why they would even try to kill Ghirahim at all. Did they realize he betrayed them?

Ganondorf came back and slid onto his knees in his haste. “Put him in?” he asked Vaati, holding the sheath ready. It was still on his belt with the master sword.

“Do it.”

Ganondorf touched the opening of Ghirahim’s sheath to his chest. Nothing happened. “What the fuck?” He tapped Ghirahim again with the same result. “Why isn’t it working?”

Vaati’s eyes widened. He and Link came to the same realization simultaneously.

 _“The sword inside him is gone,”_ Link thought incredulously, sitting back on his heels.

Ganondorf gaped at them. “That can’t be possible! That… that’s like cutting him in half!”

“Can he survive without it?” Zelda asked.

“How is he even still alive _now?_ ” Ganondorf said.

Their answer came in the form of the master sword blinking within its sheath. Link did a double-take at it. _“He’s a what?”_ The sword lit up again in response. He then looked up at Zelda and Ganondorf and signed, _“He needs a new anchor.”_

“You mean a new sword?” Zelda glanced down at his rapier. Its silver basket hilt looked nothing like the pointed wings on Ghirahim’s sword form. Their blades served completely different fighting styles and were suited for vastly dissimilar masters.

 _“Maybe?”_ Link looked questioningly at the master sword.

The master sword blinked. Link frowned, started to sign a question, then looked more concerned as the master sword blinked once more, flashing with the cadence of a voice. Facing Zelda, Link signed, _“Your rapier’s not ideal, but it might work.”_

“Then we’re using it,” Zelda said, unsheathing his weapon without letting go of Vaati’s hand. “What should I do?”

_“Put it in his chest.”_

Zelda nodded and sat up on his knees. “Gan, help me.” Zelda aimed the point of his rapier over Ghirahim. He didn’t trust himself to hold it steady with his left hand while Vaati continued drawing on his Triforce’s strength.

“I got you.” Ganondorf put his hands around Zelda’s. Praying to the Goddesses that stabbing a blade into a dying man’s chest wouldn’t kill him, he and Zelda pushed down.

Ghirahim cried out as its point sunk between the broken pieces of the diamond on his chest. Both Zelda and Ganondorf froze, but Link frantically waved his hands for them to keep going and telepathically shouted, _“Don’t stop!”_

Zelda grit his teeth against the sound of Ghirahim in pain. He was struggling weakly against them, but Ganondorf held down his shoulder. Vaati kept his grip on the demon’s other side. Link stared anxiously, thinking, _“Please work, please work…”_ They got down to the basket hilt of Zelda’s rapier and readjusted their hands to push it in the rest of the way.

As soon as it was in to the pommel, the broken diamond on Ghirahim’s chest flashed brightly. When the light faded, the diamond was whole and silver again. Ghirahim’s body went slack and his breathing slowed, gradually becoming more even.

Ganondorf stared at Ghirahim’s unconscious form. “Did it work?”

Vaati shakily removed his hand and slumped against Zelda’s side. “He’s no longer hemorrhaging, so I think so.” He shrunk down into his Minish form.

Zelda lowered his hand to hold Vaati and the Minish gratefully laid himself on the royal heir’s palm. “What do we do now?” Zelda asked, gingerly cupping his fingers around him. He was reeling with disbelief over Ghirahim’s appearance, Link’s new ability, and the fact that the master sword spoke to the knight.

“Bring him inside and go back to sleep,” Vaati answered. He sunk lower in Zelda’s palm and tipped back his head, closing his eyes. “I can’t believe how much energy I channeled from your Triforce.”

Ganondorf frowned at Vaati, concerned. “You didn’t overwork yourself again, did you?”

Link held up the fairy tonic and signed with his other hand, _“You need this?”_

“No.” Vaati waved for him to put it back away. “I didn’t use much of my own magic. I just feel more like a frayed rope than an empty bucket right now.”

Ganondorf sighed. He wanted to chastise Vaati for yet again endangering his health, it wasn’t like they had much of a choice. He glanced back down at the master sword before he turned to Link. “How did you figure out how to talk with telepathy?”

 _“Huh?”_ Link looked up at Ganondorf with a surprised expression. _“Was I?”_ he signed, glancing at Zelda too.

“Yeah, I heard you just now,” Ganondorf answered.

“Same here,” Zelda added. “You woke me up with it before you came to get us.”

Link’s eyes widened. Facing his hands, he experimentally thought without signing, _“I did it by accident.”_ He glanced back up at Zelda and Ganondorf to see if they heard him.

“Well, you sure got the hang of it now,” Zelda said, impressed. He looked over at Ganondorf. “I guess that’s two Triforces unlocked now.”

“Yours is too,” Ganondorf answered. “Vaati couldn’t have sustained Ghirahim without it.”

Zelda frowned at his hand. “Yeah, but that was _Vaati_ using it, not me.” The power he had felt from it was nothing like his regular spells. “I haven’t done anything special like you guys.”

_“It’s good progress regardless.”_

“I guess,” Zelda said. It was strange hearing Link’s voice in his head rather than needing to read his signs. A good kind of strange, but one that would take getting used to. He looked at the master sword before facing the knight again. “Why was the master sword only talking to you, anyway? Gan’s the one who pulled it.”

Link raised his hands to say, _“I don’t know.”_ He turned to the sacred weapon and started to curl his fingers to ask, but the master sword blinked before he finished the question. His eyebrows rose.

“So?” Zelda asked as Link remained quiet, processing whatever the master sword told him.

_“She said there’s an eighty-four percent chance my Triforce makes me able to hear spirits. She can’t talk to you guys because she’s not strong enough to manifest a living form like Ghirahim.”_

“She?” The female pronoun surprised Zelda, as it wouldn’t have been clear Link was gendering the sword if he hadn’t also heard him through telepathy. Hylian sign language didn’t make such distinctions.

 _“Her voice sounds feminine,”_ Link answered as the sword blinked at the same time. He looked surprised at it. His hands started to say sorry, but stopped as it continued speaking. The knight looked sheepishly back at Zelda. _“She says she’s technically an it, but she doesn’t mind being called she. Either is okay.”_

“Huh.” It sounded weird to Zelda, a sentient being using it for its pronouns, but he understood the feeling of being not really quite male or female. Despite his efforts to be seen as a man, he was still mostly stuck in the middle.

 _“She also said her name is Fi,”_ Link added. _“She doesn’t think she’ll have the energy to talk to us very much, but she’ll do what she can to guide us.”_

Ganondorf smiled. “Well, I’m glad she was able to help us save Ghirahim.” He pat the master sword’s sheath and glanced down at it. “Thanks, Fi.” The sacred blade didn’t blink or speak to Link again, but he felt a pulse of gentle warmth before it went dormant again.

“We should go back inside now,” Ganondorf said, wrapping his belt around the master sword and Ghirahim’s sheath before he put his hands under the demon. Ghirahim didn’t stir as Ganondorf pulled him into his arms. His onyx skin was cool to the touch, but his breathing continued steadily. He seemed smaller, cradling him like this, despite that his true form was slightly larger than his preferred Hylian appearance. It was a weird sight, Ghirahim so still and quiet. Ganondorf had never seen Ghirahim sleep before. He hadn’t realized it was possible. Now more than ever, Ganondorf was beginning to think he really didn’t know Ghirahim at all.

Link stood up, followed by Zelda with Vaati. Ganondorf fell into step behind them to head back into the garrison, but he paused as he noticed the night seemed to have gotten unnaturally darker while they were saving Ghirahim. “Uh, guys?” He looked up at the sky. “Fuck.” The gibbous moon above them had turned scarlet.

Link, Zelda, and Vaati followed his gaze. Their expressions became horrified, though Link soon pressed his lips into a thin line. His premonition was about more than just Ghirahim’s grave state, apparently. He surveyed the field around them. A swarm of keese appeared in the distance, but otherwise there didn’t seem to be any other change. He faced his companions. _“We’ll find out what this means in the morning.”_

Zelda looked at Link in disbelief. “You expect me to be able to sleep now?”

_“You must try. We’ll need our strength to continue traveling.”_

“He’s right,” Ganondorf said, though his expression remained grim. “Best case scenario, all this means is that all the monsters that were killed since the last blood moon are back. If it’s anything worse, we can’t do anything about it right now.”

“Din’s balls…” Zelda groaned. “My kingdom’s falling apart and I’m useless to help it.”

Link pat Zelda’s back. _“Not useless. Just waiting.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The bit introducing Fi was a last-minute change. I wasn't going to name-drop her at all in this fic, mainly because she really doesn't play a large role as an actual character, but it didn't make sense to leave her unnamed when she was so important to saving Ghirahim. I'm still trying to work in a way to have her interact with the team more so she's less of a deus ex machina in this chapter, but as things stand, don't expect to see her again in any significant way. 
> 
> If you have any ideas to include Fi more, please let me know! Even if I don't include them in this fic, I can always try to incorporate them in book 2. (And this goes for any fun ideas or headcanons in general - book 2 is such a mess right now, it could use some help).


	47. “What are you scared of?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We made it to 225 kudos! And I got fan art!!! [DarkMachi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkMachi/pseuds/DarkMachi) drew this [cute picture of Kit](https://twitter.com/DarkAcey/status/1281375836399120389). She's a writer here on AO3, so be sure to check out her awesome [BakuDeku fics](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1375915) too. 
> 
> Thank you to everyone who's read and commented! Your support is what makes AO3 such a special place.

Link was the first to wake the next morning out of habit, followed by Ganondorf as knights tripped over his long legs in the lane between their bunks. With a groan, the Gerudo pulled in his feet and sat up. He glanced over at Zelda and saw he was curled up adorably in his blankets. His hair was a tangled mess around his head and back, and Vaati had also snuck onto Zelda’s pillows at some point during the night and made a nest in his long locks. Ganondorf snorted at the sight. Apparently all long hair was fair game to the mouse-brained Minish. To save Vaati embarrassment before the royal heir could wake, Ganondorf reached over to disentangle him. Vaati grumbled but remained asleep.

Link hopped down from his bunk and got dressed. He smiled at Ganondorf gently picking up Vaati. _“That’s cute.”_ Still signing out of habit despite his new skill with telepathy, he asked the Gerudo, _“Should we wake Ghirahim for breakfast?”_

“Uh, good question.” Ganondorf turned to his other side, where they had put the demon on their neighboring bottom bunk. “He can eat, but it’s more for pleasure than necessity. Rest is probably better for him, but we shouldn’t leave without saying anything in case he wakes without us.”

 _“See if you can wake him then,”_ Link said. _“If he doesn’t, one of us can stay here with him.”_

“All right.” Ganondorf put Vaati down back into the nest the Minish had originally made in his bag. As he gave Ghirahim’s arm a shake, he said, “Hey, you still alive?”

Ghirahim grimaced as he woke. “What?” he groaned, looking disoriented at the ceiling before he felt Ganondorf’s hand on his arm. He flinched away from his touch and looked bewildered at him and then at Link and Zelda behind them, who was only just stirring. “Where am I?”

“Hyrule Garrison,” Ganondorf answered, concerned that he didn’t know. “You appeared outside last night, nearly dead. What the fuck happened to you?”

“I… Oh.” Ghirahim’s expression darkened. He turned away. “The twins and their beast,” he muttered. He surveyed the sleeping quarters for a moment, noting the remaining few knights leaving the room. He lifted up his fingers and touched the diamond on his chest. He hadn’t noticed until now that he was still in his true form, but something else felt wrong.

“I feel… strange.” It was as if there was a gap inside him that had shifted, opening one area and closing another one that he hadn’t noticed was empty before. He hesitantly glanced back at Ganondorf. Trying to sound more suspicious than scared, Ghirahim asked, “How did you revive me?”

Ganondorf pointed his thumb at Zelda. “We put Kit’s rapier inside you.”

Ghirahim balked. “You did _what_?” Yet even as he asked the question, his expression became troubled, recognizing the new shape of his anchor.

Zelda sat up and pushed his hair out of his face. “You’re welcome,” he grumbled. “You took my only weapon.”

“I assure you, it’s a poor substitute,” Ghirahim retorted. He rubbed his forehead, despite that it was an entirely futile, mortal gesture. “It’s making me positively ill.” The blade was much lighter and thinner than he was used to, making him feel insubstantial rather than grounded. He couldn’t remember ever being this weak before.

Ganondorf rolled his eyes. “Better ill than dead. It was what we had. How did my mothers even manage to take your sword form?”

Continuing to rub his temples, Ghirahim answered, “They defeated me with the combined power of their magic, Malice, and ancient guardians. I presume they extracted it before I could come to my senses.”

“So it was just a thing you’ve been possessing this whole time?”

“It was not ‘just a thing!’” Ghirahim slammed his hands on his bunk and glared at Ganondorf. “Demise forged that blade for me! Without it, I was…” he trailed off, getting a vacant look in his eyes. “I… I was…” His breaths became shallow.

 _“You were a Great Fairy,”_ Link signed with emphasis, his expression somber. _“Demise corrupted your memories.”_

Zelda looked shocked while Ganondorf remained confused, and Zelda realized that he hadn’t heard Link’s voice in his mind when he read his signs. His telepathy apparently didn’t automatically convey all of his thoughts to everyone if he was focused on only one person. Zelda was about to point this out when Ghirahim went ballistic.

“No!” Ghirahim put his fists against his head. “No, no, no! I’m not! Demise wouldn’t!”

“Wouldn’t what?” Ganondorf asked.

“Demise screwed up his head,” Zelda stated. “Link said—”

“No, he didn’t!” Ghirahim retorted, lurching out of bed. He stumbled as he stood and caught himself on one of the bunk posts.

Ganondorf looked alarmed while Link looked like he regretted saying anything. Zelda groaned. To Link, he said, “Your telepathy only works on whoever you’re talking to.” He turned to Ganondorf. “He told Ghirahim that he was apparently a Great Fairy.”

“He was?” Ganondorf looked at Link. “How do you know?”

 _“Fi told me last night during everything.”_ Link paused to make sure Ganondorf heard him that time before he continued, _“Great fairies can’t survive in our world outside of a fountain or a blessed object. Zelda’s rapier is only sustaining him because of all of the care he’s put into training with it.”_

“Shit.” More alarmed, Ganondorf turned back to Ghirahim. He still seemed to be fighting whatever he was remembering. “Okay, hey. You don’t need to freak out—”

“You don’t freak out!” Ghirahim retorted. “My life was not a lie!”

“We’re not saying it was.” Ganondorf jumped up and hurried around the bunk to face him. “You’ve just, uh… been through a lot, okay?”

“Don’t give me your pity!” Ghirahim swung his hand at Ganondorf, but the hit lacked any force. “I am a demon lord!”

Zelda looked to Link while Ganondorf was at a loss for words. Link signed to Zelda, _“We can’t repair Ghirahim’s memories. Only he can patch together the pieces that remain, and to try or not is his choice.”_

“There has to be something we can do,” Zelda answered, looking worriedly back at Ganondorf and Ghirahim. The demon staggered farther away from the Gerudo to another bunk, still fighting flashbacks. Zelda wished he knew what was going through his head. If he had any ideas to start with period, it might have helped him understand the demon. Without any, it was hard to reconcile the scene before him with his memory of how Ghirahim acted at the castle.

Link looked similarly conflicted. Uncertainly, he signed, _“All we can offer is time and patience.”_ He paused as a thought occurred to him, which he didn’t sign. _“Although, one of the Great Fairies might have advice.”_

“As if we have the time to get to one of them,” Zelda muttered. “It’s going to take us all day just to get to the base of the Great Plateau, and we don’t know what Twinrova’s doing now since they almost killed Ghirahim.”

 _“You heard that?”_ Link looked unnerved that he unintentionally broadcasted his thoughts.

“Yeah? You didn’t mean to say that?”

Link shook his head. _“No. Have I been doing that since last night?”_

“Uh, kind of?”

Link looked horrified. _“Oh, sweet Hylia.”_ He held his forehead. _“This is worse than being mute.”_

“Is it?” Zelda asked. He could only think of the change as a good thing.

_“Yes! Do you have any idea how many things I think that I’d rather keep to myself?”_

Zelda couldn’t stop a snort at the irony. “I can definitely imagine, but you keep too much to yourself anyway.”

 _“So? That doesn’t mean I want to be an open book now!”_ Link groaned and buried his face in his hands. _“I never wanted any of this.”_

“Hey…” Zelda put his hand on Link’s shoulder in sympathy. “It’ll be all right. I’m sure you just need some practice to get used to controlling it, and I can help you with that. Okay?”

Link reluctantly looked past his fingers with a sullen face. With a sigh, he turned one hand and signed, _“Okay.”_

Meanwhile Ghirahim curled up on the floor in the corner of the garrison’s sleeping quarters. He felt too unstable and fragile to attempt teleporting, despite wanting to flee. Zelda’s rapier was like a bundle of straw replacing an iron lynchpin. It held him together, but only dubiously. Worse was the memory fragments that kept flooding through his thoughts. Purple skies in crystalline forests, an ambush by Hylian soldiers, laughing with his sisters, Demise beguiling him with the wonders of the mortal world… His previous leaked flashbacks became a bursting dam without Demise’s blade to hold them back.

“Ghirahim,” Ganondorf said carefully, kneeling down across from him. He had half a mind to leave the demon as a petty sort of revenge for all of the hardships he let him endure. Ghirahim was an arrogant little shit and a trickster above all else. His idea of fun was almost always at another’s expense. Yet he was not above remorse, at least now. Ghirahim had always called Ganondorf a friend, even if he meant it facetiously or only for Demise. It had become truer for Ganondorf to agree than to keep seeing him as only an enemy or a nuisance.

The demon didn’t respond. He remained hunched over his knees in the corner. Ganondorf sighed and said more insistently, “Ghirahim, look at me. What are you scared of?”

Ghirahim remained quiet, but his fingers gripped his head more tightly. When he spoke, his voice was a low, pained sound. “Me.”

Ganondorf closed his eyes and silently swore. He thought of Nabooru and wondered what she would say. More than once, he had been scared of himself too, of becoming Demise or whatever his mothers wanted. Nabooru and Vaati always eventually reassured him, whether it was through distraction or reminders of what made him himself. He considered going to get Vaati, but assumed his advice wouldn’t matter to Ghirahim if it came from the Minish, a stranger.

Resting his knuckles on the floor, Ganondorf carefully chose his words. “What part of you is scary? Remembering your past?”

Ghirahim shook his head without moving his hands.

“You now?”

Ghirahim hesitated, but shook his head again more slowly.

“What about you yesterday? Or last week?” Ganondorf moved closer and sat down on the floor, crossing his legs. Ghirahim neither agreed nor denied, but his posture became slightly less tense. Talking seemed to be helping, so Ganondorf continued, “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but you were different after our trip to the castle. You were sorry that Nabooru got petrified, weren’t you?” It was more of a statement than a question. Even though Ghirahim never directly apologized, his actions showed his guilt.

With a tiny nod, Ghirahim said, “I know what it means to care for someone.” He hesitated a moment. “I care deeply for Demise. As much as you do for your sister. But I… I don’t how much is true anymore. And I don’t know if I want the truth if it makes me feel like this.”

“Like shit?”

With a peeved frown, Ghirahim glanced up at Ganondorf. “If you must put it so uncouthly… Yes.”

“Right way’s never the easy way.” Ganondorf lifted his eyebrows with a shrug. “Demise made you forget you had a conscience, but clearly you still have one. You can keep it or toss it now – your choice, not his or mine or anybody else’s.”

Ghirahim took a shaky breath and exhaled. He rested his hands on his knees. Giving Ganondorf a chagrined look, he asked, “How did you grow up so quickly? Spouting wisdom beyond your years – I thought you said you got Courage.”

Ganondorf chuckled. “I did.” There was no point bringing up that he felt twice as old as he was. He had survived so many years of trials without realizing he was repeating them, it probably did age him mentally.

“Mm-hmm,” Ghirahim hummed in jesting disbelief. He looked up and noticed Link and Zelda still standing by their bunk, trying not to be obvious about their eavesdropping. With an exasperated sigh, the demon supposed he should have been thankful that at least all of the knights in the sleeping quarters had already cleared out.

Ghirahim faced Ganondorf again. “Get breakfast with your companions. I will be ready to depart when you return.”

“Okay.” Ganondorf unfolded his legs and pushed himself up to feet. “Will you explain why my mothers kicked your ass then too?”

Reluctantly, Ghirahim said, “I suppose that is warranted information.”

“You don’t have to force yourself to talk about it if it’s not an immediate problem. I just want to make sure we don’t have less time than we thought.”

“That I cannot answer. Their beast is more functional than I realized, and they’re doing something to Gerudo Tower with it.” After a pause, he averted his gaze. He tried to sound nonchalant as he added, “They took Demise’s blade because they wanted your Triforce. They wanted me to bring you to them, but I refused.”

Ganondorf’s eyes widened, taken aback. “You nearly got yourself killed to protect me?”

“More I was too proud to yield. I could have fled, but I didn’t.”

“Still.” No matter how Ghirahim tried to deflect the matter, Ganondorf knew this only validated the second chance he was giving him.

“My point is,” Ghirahim stated brusquely, “they are still looking for more power, and Demise’s blade is a powerful weapon even without me inhabiting it. If they could separate me from it, it is proof they can take your Triforce pieces or even possibly remove the spirit in the master sword.”

“Okay, but that doesn’t really change our plans. We’re still going to get the Sheikah slate working again and go face them.”

Zelda interjected, “And if we can’t take them head on, maybe we can poison them or something instead.”

Ganondorf turned to Zelda with an unsettled look at the suggestion. Ghirahim looked doubtful, but said, “Maybe.” Ganondorf turned back to him as if they were both without morals.

Shaking his head, Ganondorf took a step to leave. “Anyway, we’ll try not to be long.” He rejoined Link, Zelda, and Vaati, who had switched to his Hylian form and was sitting on Zelda’s bunk. Ganondorf and Zelda still needed to get dressed, so Zelda grabbed his clothes and left first to change in the bathroom.

After the rest of them left the sleeping quarters, Ghirahim stood up and walked back over to the bunk where he spent the night. He sat on its edge and faced his hands, contemplating the path before him.


	48. “Well, that’s a makeover.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Saturday! I just spent my entire evening attempting to write a smutty one-shot between Kit and Gan that was supposed to go into my series of bonus content, but it turned into a heartfelt new chapter instead. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ I don't know whether to be happy that my characters are fleshed out enough to resist boinking like Barbie dolls, or annoyed that any explicit content for this series is probably going to have to take place after the events of book 1 and 2.
> 
> I shouldn't really be that surprised, considering that I was intentionally trying to keep this fic rated teen while I wrote it, but I'd still like to share some spicier work on the side (and I normally don't have any issues writing explicit content, as evidenced by my non-LoZ works. It's just this current cast of characters is a bunch incredibly awkward teens when it comes to relationships in general).
> 
> Oh well. Enjoy the craziness that this chapter brings to Hyrule. ;)

When the team returned to the garrison’s sleeping quarters after breakfast, Ganondorf did a double-take at the sight of Ghirahim’s new appearance. The demon had taken his Hylian form and had about the same height, makeup, and hairstyle as before, but he darkened his formerly pale complexion into a hearty truffle tone. Instead of his leotard, he had also changed into white, Gerudo-style pants with a swirling design reminiscent of the basket hilt on Zelda’s rapier. Tied around his waist was a bejeweled sash that matched a tight halter-top of iridescent scales. When he stood, his cape fell behind him, and its pattern mimicked dragonfly wings.

Zelda blinked, dumbfounded. “Well, that’s a makeover.”

Link was similarly stunned, while Vaati merely looked baffled on his perch atop Zelda’s head.

“No kidding.” Ganondorf half-smiled, amused. “Decided to be a fairy again?”

Ghirahim smirked. “Does it suit me?” he asked, posing with his fingers pushing back his head.

With a laugh, Ganondorf said, “Sure.” He walked over to their bunks. While he picked up the mattress he had slept on off the floor to put it back into its bunk, he asked, “Are you trying to suck up to me by looking Gerudo too?”

“Pah!” Ghirahim scoffed. “Perish the thought.”

Zelda raised an eyebrow. “Did you used to look like this then?” he asked, gathering his things. “Before you met Demise?” His belt felt too light without his rapier in its sheath. He tried not to think about the loss.

“No,” Ghirahim answered, irritated. He put his hands on his hips. “Can I not just try a new style without receiving bothersome questions?”

Ganondorf clipped on his cloak and put his bag over his shoulder. He put the master sword on his belt and Ghirahim’s old sheath into his bag. “No, apparently.” Heading back to the door, he said, “We’ve already thanked the captain here for the garrison’s hospitality, and the knights should have our horse and wagon ready.”

“Are you really going to be traveling with us now and not just teleport off somewhere?” Zelda asked, unsure if he actually wanted the demon’s company for the rest of their trip. Link had withdrawn more than usual during breakfast, and the royal heir knew it wasn’t just due to the fact that he didn’t know how to fully control his telepathy. It was also Ghirahim’s fault that the knight was anxious.

“Twinrova believe me dead,” Ghirahim answered airily. “I can’t very well return home.”

“There isn’t anywhere else you’d rather be?”

Ghirahim narrowed his eyes at Zelda. Vaati shrunk back somewhat, settling lower on the royal heir’s head. Rather than be annoyed at Zelda’s implied snub, Ghirahim smiled furtively. “No, I am quite content to remain with Ganny’s little fox.”

Zelda scowled. Ganondorf glanced between him and the demon and saw how uncomfortable Vaati looked to be in the middle of their brewing hostility. As Ganondorf plucked the Minish from Zelda’s head and moved him to the safety of his shoulder, he said, “Ghirahim, behave please. Just because we saved your life doesn’t mean all’s forgiven.”

Ghirahim turned up his chin. “I’ve done nothing wrong.”

Zelda’s scowl became a glare. “Do we need to remind you that you tried to kidnap me and kill Link?”

The knight visibly cringed at the reminder. _“Please don’t,”_ his thoughts said, but his hands only took out the Sheikah slate. He pretended there was something important to look at on its screen.

Scoffing, Ghirahim said, “I wasn’t _really_ going to kill him. I was just using you to get Ganny out of the castle.”

“That is _not_ what it looked like!” Zelda retorted.

“You’re just annoyed you three couldn’t best me,” Ghirahim taunted. “All the Triforce holders working together, and yet you achieved naught but a scratch.”

“Ghirahim,” Ganondorf growled in warning. They came outside and Link hurried over to the horse. The knight pet her flank as if her gentle presence could shield him from their argument.

The demon ignored Ganondorf as he continued goading Zelda. “Tell me, do I annoy you because I represent your failures?” Zelda kept walking to the wagon, though his hands pulled into fists. “Or because I know Ganny better than you ever will?”

Zelda slammed down his bag on the back of the wagon. “You dick, you really—”

“Enough!” Ganondorf snapped at the same time, putting his hand in front of Zelda to keep him from retaliating further. “Ghirahim, _what_ are you trying to accomplish?”

Ghirahim crossed his arms and looked aloof. “Nothing in particular.”

“Then knock it off.” Ganondorf put down his bag beside Zelda’s, but didn’t look away from Ghirahim. “Whatever your problem is, be straightforward or keep it to yourself.”

Ghirahim’s expression soured. “You’re the ones with a problem. If I couldn’t defeat your mothers, I don’t see how you will.”

Zelda looked up at Ganondorf. “Can we just leave him here? Please?”

“Believe me, I’m considering it,” Ganondorf muttered, climbing onto the back of the wagon. He held out his hand to help Zelda get on.

“You can’t get rid of me that easily,” Ghirahim said, nimbly hopping up onto the wagon as Ganondorf lifted up the royal heir. “I still have the princess’ only weapon.”

Gritting his teeth, Zelda said, “I have magic. I can make do without it.”

Link looked back at them from the coachman’s seat. _“Are we all ready to go?”_ he asked, sounding clearly like he wanted nothing more than to continue their trip in silence.

Ganondorf closed up the back of the wagon while Zelda took his seat up near the front. Ghirahim sat on the edge of the back, facing the road behind them, and crossed his leg over his knee. Ganondorf moved to sit across from Zelda and looked at each of his companions. Link looked anxious, Vaati was hiding in his cloak, Zelda was sulking, and Ghirahim loftily ignored them all. With a sigh, Ganondorf said, “I suppose we’re ready as we’ll ever be.”

Link nodded and lifted the reigns. After the horse began walking, the knight took out one of his books from the Sheikah slate and continued reading.

* * *

Their wagon didn’t get very far down the road before they encountered the first change brought on by the blood moon. They were crossing through a thicket of trees just outside of Hyrule Garrison when a branch rustled above them and dropped a spider the size of a mountain goat onto Link’s feet.

The knight screamed and fell backwards, landing on Zelda and Ganondorf’s legs. They looked up and both recoiled with shouts as well, but the Gerudo had the instinct to draw the master sword. The horse spooked and bolted. Their wagon lurched. Ghirahim nearly fell off the back.

“What is that?” Zelda shouted, scrambling to the rear of the wagon. The giant spider crawled up the coach’s seat and hissed at them. Its abdomen had a skull-like pattern, and its fangs were long as knives.

Slashing at it, Ganondorf said, “Dead!”

The spider held up its front legs and blocked the blow. Before Ganondorf could swing again, it spat a gush of sticky web.

“Ah, shit!” Ganondorf held up his hand against the spray.

Ghirahim leapt over Link and Zelda and hardened his arms to onyx. He jabbed his hand beneath the spider’s body and struck upwards. Underbelly exposed, he whacked it off the cart. “Fireball, Princess!” he called, watching the monster land and fall into the distance as the horse continued running.

“Don’t call me Princess!” Zelda retorted, but he got up and incinerated the spider.

Link hurried back to the front of the wagon. When the knight got their horse under control and halted, they were out of the thicket and had run off the road into the grass at the foot of Mount Daphnes. Ganondorf struggled to detangle himself from the thick web that covered him.

Zelda slumped against the back of the wagon. “Have monsters like that always existed in the woods?” he asked, fairly certain there hadn’t been.

 _“No,”_ Link answered, just as bewildered as Zelda.

Ghirahim helped pull the web off of Ganondorf. “It’s called a skulltula,” he stated, flicking his wrist to toss a clump of silk into the grass. “I’ve not seen one since the Sky Era.”

Ganondorf took Vaati out of his cloak and set him down on the coach seat. The Minish took off his cap to pull strands of spider silk from his hair and tunic. As Ganondorf removed his cloak and shook off the web on it, he said, “So, you’re saying that second blood moon revived monsters that existed before the Calamity?”

Zelda glanced back towards the thicket of trees. “That’s what it sounds like.”

 _“What are those?”_ Link asked, pointing to flower-like monsters flying around the top of Mount Daphnes.

Ghirahim followed his gaze and frowned, puzzled. “They look like peahats, but their coloring is wrong.”

“They look like the ones from my time,” Vaati said, surprising the demon who had forgotten about his existence. “We ought to get back onto the road. If they’re the kind that produce bombs, they’ll start dropping them on us.”

“They would attack us?” Ghirahim asked, scandalized. “They’re just supposed to be floating flora!”

Ganondorf put back on his cloak and sat down again. “Well, obviously some monsters evolved while you were sleeping in Faron. Link, can you get us back on course?”

The knight nodded and coaxed their horse to turn back to the road. The wagon rolled bumpily over the grass. Vaati remained sitting on the coach seat behind Link. Ghirahim sat down across from Ganondorf, taking Zelda’s previous spot. The royal heir found himself stuck at the back.

Worrying about how the kingdom was faring with so many new monsters, Zelda folded his elbow over the back of the wagon and surveyed their surroundings. The monsters they knew had been bad enough. Most people were ill-equipped to handle them, but at least all of the knights were trained how to fight the common ones. Zelda wasn’t sure how he would have handled the skulltula if Ghirahim hadn’t known to flip it over.

After Zelda noticed a long, kite-like monster flying high above them in the clouds, he turned back towards Ghirahim and Vaati. “Are there other monsters we should be worried about appearing on the road?” He pointed up at the flying monster. “Things like that, maybe?”

Everyone in the wagon looked up. Ghirahim looked unimpressed. “That’s a skytail. It shouldn’t bother us down here.” He turned his attention back to the road. “As for other creatures, it is hard to say. I can’t think of anything that might appear here besides guay. They’re nasty black birds that defecate on everything below them.”

Zelda grimaced at the thought. “Ew, but good to know. Vaati?”

“We might see keatons in the fields,” Vaati said, “but most of the creatures I’m aware of avoid civilized areas.”

“What do they look like?”

“Bipedal foxes, but there are also friendly ones with three tails that walk on four legs. The bipedal ones like to steal rupees from travelers, but I doubt they would attack a group as large as ours.”

“Lovely,” Zelda said, rubbing between his eyes. He hated to think of how that would further hurt trade between the kingdoms.

Their wagon bumped back onto the gravel road. When Link got the horse to follow it without more direction, he turned back to his companions and said, _“I’m going to try to talk to Impa. I’ll tell you if I can reach her.”_

Surprised but hopeful, Zelda said, “Good luck.”

Link faced the road again, then bowed his head and closed his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ghirahim's makeover is brought you by all of the awesome fan art I've seen that imagines his grey skin as more brown instead of white. Seriously, whoever first thought of recoloring him was a genius, and one of these days, I'm going to have to make a proper drawing of my version of him. I only have messy sketches so far, but making iridescent scales is freaking impossible at my skill level.


	49. “You were trying to be helpful?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone. So, I had kind of a shitty weekend, and book 2 is still a struggle, and I honestly didn't really want to put up today's update. I don't think I will on Saturday, but updates will continue at least once a week. I'm just pumping the breaks because I'm wasting so much of my mental energy trying to get validation, and I can't keep doing that. I'm sorry.
> 
> The reasons why I had a shitty weekend (venting dump)--My sister might have had or still have covid because she had a fever, so I might get it too, and even though it seems mild, it still means I can't work until the test comes back tomorrow or Thursday and hopefully says its negative. If it's not, I don't know what we'll do. We also just learned one of our dogs, Rosie is going to die in the next 6-12 months, and I just... because my baby lives with our mom, and because of covid, I probably won't get to see her anytime soon, even though that's all I keep thinking, that I want my baby back here with me. I almost certainly am not going to be able to be there for her when she dies. I've had Rosie since at least 2006. She's a tiny bichon-poodle mix, and she's the only reason I can stand visiting my mom as frequently as she makes us come see her. Without her, I don't know how I'll stand it. If I could, I'd take her back to my apartment, but... everything is just complicated and fucking sucks.
> 
> 7/16/2020 Update: My sister's covid test came back negative, so we're okay. Still emotionally spent, but I wanted to let you all know so latecomers to this update don't have to worry.

Link was able to telepathically speak to Impa, to both his own and his companions’ surprise. He found her in a meeting with her Sheikah agents discussing the second blood moon, though he couldn’t see the other Sheikah in the room with her very well. It looked to him as if they were cloaked in fog.

Impa had been alarmed to hear him in her thoughts, but it didn’t take Link very long to calm her down and explain. He tried to talk to the other Sheikah too, but he couldn’t convey his voice to them. They guessed it was because Link didn’t have a personal connection with any of the other Sheikah. While he and Impa caught up with each other, Link passed on everything Ghirahim and Vaati knew about the new monsters they had found in Hyrule Field. In return, Impa shared what she had learned about the new monsters at the castle.

In addition to the monsters that had originally reappeared at the castle with the first blood moon, the new creatures Impa had personally seen so far included monstrous rats; inhuman knights in red, blue, or green armor; and a speedy, dwarf version of bokoblins in the dungeon. When Link described them to his companions, Vaati said the inhuman knights were likely possessed suits of armor or fallen guards who had been brainwashed by villains like his demon half. The dwarf bokoblins were called miniblins and were from a timeline where the entirety of Hyrule had been flooded.

The knowledge that monsters from other timelines and not just the past had appeared did not reassure Zelda, but he was glad they had a way to talk to Impa without needing Vaati or Ghirahim’s help. Even though the Minish appeared physically fine now, Zelda knew magical overextension was an incorporeal injury. Zelda wasn’t really sure if Ghirahim needed to rest or not. His injury had been graver, but he seemed okay now with Zelda’s rapier. Either way, he figured the wounds in his memory were likely just as bad.

Knowing that fact and feeling sympathy were two different challenges, though. The demon continued to get on his nerves throughout the rest of the morning. Ghirahim complained of the horse’s slow pace and the lack of comfortable seating in the wagon, and he called them simple-minded for having the patience to sit quietly. He pestered Link with questions about his selective mutism, asking why he still insisted on not speaking verbally since he could speak with telepathy now. He wouldn’t believe it was a real disability. It was only after Zelda snapped at him and Ganondorf intervened again that he stopped bothering Link.

Barely five minutes passed before Ghirahim turned to Zelda and asked why he insisted on being called a man.

“If you don’t have testicles, you just aren’t male,” Ghirahim said, emphatic with his point. “Half the Gerudo act more like men than your knights, but none of them need to be called _sir_.”

Zelda hit his hand on the wagon floor. “I swear to the _Goddesses_ , if you—”

“I’m just trying to understand!” he protested. “If you gave up on this pointless endeavor, you wouldn’t have to stop acting like a boy. Wear trousers and be as brash as your father. You don’t need to be called a he.”

“Yes, I do!” Zelda retorted. “Why should it matter to you what pronouns I prefer? Does it physically hurt you to get it right?”

“No, but—”

“Then stop acting like a know-it-all! I’m sick to death of you and everybody else in this damn kingdom trying to tell me what I’m supposed to be!” Zelda tightened his hands into fists and dug his nails into his palms. “It’s not fair that you can sit there and act like I’m wrong for wanting to be different. You just gave yourself a makeover this morning! I don’t get to change myself like that!”

Ghirahim shied back, regret written in his expression like _yikes_ rather than _sorry_. “Well,” he flustered, “disguise magic isn’t hard.”

“You’re missing my damn point!” Zelda slumped back in his seat and buried his face in his hands. “Great Goddesses,” he groaned, “why are you such an idiot?”

Ghirahim stared, stung by the insult, but failed to think of a suitable retort. Ganondorf sighed heavily, pinching between his eyes. Ghirahim noticed and looked from Zelda to him with an unreadable expression, mouth slightly parted and eyebrows pinched together. His breathing quickened. He cast down his gaze and disappeared. In his place was Zelda’s rapier.

It took a moment for Ganondorf to notice his transformation. “Huh?” The demon never switched to his weapon form voluntarily unless it was for Ganondorf’s training. “Ghirahim?” He reached down to take the rapier’s handle.

 _“Don’t touch me!”_ Ghirahim snarled when his fingers made contact.

Ganondorf flinched and pulled back. “Shit.”

Zelda looked up. His exasperation became concern when he saw Ganondorf’s alarmed expression. Glancing at his rapier, he looked back at Ganondorf and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Ganondorf leaned back and rested his hands on his crossed legs. “You hurt his feelings, I guess.” He felt too tired to keep stamping down conflict, but just like his Triforce, he didn’t have much control over when he had to keep repeating the same fight.

“I did?” Zelda said incredulously. “He’s been annoying the crap out of us ever since we left.”

“You know he can hear you,” Ganondorf said, looking sidelong at Zelda’s rapier.

“So what? Why should he get off the hook if he’s just going to hide in my weapon when I’m being honest?”

“Because you’re not really being honest, you’re being mean.”

“For defending myself?”

“No, you’re just…” Ganondorf sighed. “You’re both being too much. Just chill out already and leave things alone.”

Zelda scowled, but said, “Fine.” He turned back around and folded his arms over the side of the wagon.

The rest of the morning passed in tense silence. Ghirahim remained in Zelda’s rapier.

At noon, they passed a monster fort filled with bokoblins and moblins and were unable to pass unnoticed. Zelda bombarded the monsters with fireballs and Ganondorf cut them down with the master sword and one of his twin blades. Link summoned a royal bow from the Sheikah slate and picked off the ones higher up in their fort.

Ghirahim returned to his Hylian form after they began fighting, but he stayed on the wagon with Vaati to watch.

“Why aren’t you helping them?” Vaati asked. He switched to his Hylian form on the wagon’s coach seat to address Ghirahim, who sat on the edge of its side. “Don’t you like fighting things?”

Ghirahim looked sidelong at the Minish before he turned up his nose. “My help isn’t wanted.”

Confused, Vaati asked slowly, “Why…?”

“They only get angry with me when I try.”

“Huh? No, they—wait.” Vaati narrowed his eyes at the demon. “You were trying to be _helpful_ with your questions earlier?”

“Yes,” Ghirahim retorted. “Link and Zelda both let ridiculous things cause problems for them.”

Vaati face-palmed. He dragged his hand over his face and dropped it onto his lap. “Okay,” he said, composing himself, “I have some things to say to that, and I want you to hear this as advice and not criticism.”

Ghirahim raised an eyebrow. “Go on.”

“You don’t know everything, so stop assuming you, and _only_ you, know what’s best,” Vaati stated. “If Link was mute by choice, why would he voluntarily limit his ability to communicate with other people?”

Frowning, Ghirahim crossed his arms. “I don’t know. But his vocal cords work fine.”

“That’s because his mutism is psychosomatic. Haven’t you ever struggled to speak when you get upset? His brain does that to his voice when he’s around anyone, even if there isn’t an obvious reason.”

“Is there no way to cure such a thing?”

“If there is, no doctor or mage has discovered how yet,” Vaati answered. As Ghirahim’s expression became thoughtful, Vaati continued, “Zelda’s identity is kind of the same, I think. It’s not a choice.”

“But that makes even less sense,” Ghirahim said, annoyed again. “Your sex isn’t a psychosomatic thing.”

“Is it not, though?” Vaati crossed his legs and sat facing more towards Ghirahim than their companions still in battle. “I thought the same, but men and women do act differently. What we are normally matches the outside, but for him, I guess he ended up in the wrong form somehow.”

Ghirahim looked away, acutely made aware then of the _wrongness_ of Zelda’s rapier. It didn’t match him either _._ No matter his mixed feelings about Demise now, his blade still felt more like who he was. He gave an aggravated sigh and swung his legs over the side of the wagon to sit inside it once more, his back to the battle.

“Do you understand now?” Vaati asked.

“Yes, so leave me be.”

“You don’t have to sulk just because you didn’t get it before.”

“I’m going to anyway.”

Vaati rolled his eyes and returned to his Minish form. Under his breath, he muttered, “And I’m called childish.”

Their companions finished clearing out the monster fort not long later. Seeing Ghirahim had come out of Zelda’s rapier, Ganondorf asked, “You better now?”

“Fine, thank you,” Ghirahim answered primly. “Let us please continue our trip before I perish of boredom.”

Zelda climbed onto the wagon. “If you’re so sick of us, why don’t you just leave? You can teleport anywhere you want.”

Ghirahim didn’t dignify Zelda’s answer with a response. Instead he turned away his face and ignored him.

“Kit, just leave him alone,” Ganondorf said. To Link, he asked, “Should we have lunch before we continue?”

 _“Let’s get the horse down to Aquame Lake first,”_ Link answered, getting back into the coach seat. _“She can drink and graze there while I make us food.”_

Zelda looked at Link before he glanced over at the lake. At the top of a peninsula in its center stood the coliseum ruins. They wouldn’t be that close to it with the water between them, but it was still a forbidding structure. “If you think it’s a good spot, it works.”

Once everyone was seated in the wagon again, they continued south.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reminder, there probably won't be an update on Saturday. If you're still reading this fic, I'd really appreciate it if you can leave a heart emoji or a comment or a recommendation for some other fics you enjoy. They don't have to be LoZ related. I just want some good stories to distract me.
> 
> Even if you don't respond, thank you for sticking around. I do appreciate that you're here, even though my anxiety fucks with my self-esteem. I hope you're having a better week than me.


	50. “He didn’t realize that he wanted friends, not servants.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for your patience and support over the past week. The break helped me a lot not only to clear my headspace, but also to give me some much needed distance on this story. I get bogged down in details really easily, so working on overarching plot threads and actually making progress on book 2 has been a struggle with how often I've been updating. I wish I could keep up the twice weekly updates, but the difference it made to skip Saturday really emphasized how much I needed to slow down. 
> 
> I'll still post bonus updates with every 25 kudos. If I manage to get book 2 to cooperate with me, I might go back to twice weekly. If not, well, we're still trucking along.

Link guided the wagon off the road. Before he removed their horse’s bit and bridle, he unhooked the Sheikah slate and passed it to Zelda. _“Get out some firewood from this. I packed a cooking pot with our travel gear. You guys can decide what we should make.”_

“Okay.” Zelda glanced up at Ganondorf. “Want to get the pot while I start the fire?” he asked, pointing with his chin towards a sandy part of the water’s edge.

“Sure.” Ganondorf went to the back of the wagon and dug their cooking pot out from underneath the tents and climbing supplies. Putting it under his arm, he faced Vaati and Ghirahim. “Coming with?”

“No, thank you,” Ghirahim said, still acting snobbishly.

Vaati looked sidelong at Ghirahim and answered, “I’ll join you in a minute.”

Ganondorf raised an eyebrow. “If you’re sure.” He wasn’t sure how Vaati planned to help Ghirahim with his attitude problem, but he appreciated that he was trying. As Ganondorf turned to rejoin Zelda, he knew he had his own work cut out for him too. There wasn’t anything exactly wrong with the things the royal heir was saying, but the way Zelda kept talking to Ghirahim needed to stop. He just wished he knew how to even approach that conversation. If they had brought Nabooru, she would have known how to smooth things over between them.

Zelda had already killed two octoroks in the lake and gotten the fire started when Ganondorf joined him. He sat down next to him and crossed his legs. Zelda held out the Sheikah slate and asked, “What looks good to you?” Since he was an inconvenient distance away, Zelda scooted closer.

“What does it have?” Ganondorf asked in return, setting aside the cooking pot. He took the slate and examined its screen. It looked much smaller in his hand than in Zelda’s.

“Basically everything.” Zelda leaned against Ganondorf to reach over his arm and flip to another page in its inventory. “Fruit and veggies, fish and meat, mushrooms, spices – you name it, my great-grandparents stuffed it in here.” He probably could have reached the slate without being so close, but he couldn’t help himself. He had been wanting an excuse to feel Ganondorf’s muscles for a while now.

Ganondorf smirked knowingly at Zelda pressed against his arm. He subtly moved the Sheikah slate slightly farther so the royal heir would have to lean even more against him. “Think we could make curry?”

“Probably. You know how?”

“Yeah, I can cook,” Ganondorf said. “I didn’t live exclusively in my room. We also had a general living area and a kitchen, so I made most of our meals. For me, Nab, and Vaati, I mean. I didn’t cook for my mothers that often.”

“Huh.” Zelda put his hand on Ganondorf’s knee to reach the Sheikah slate’s screen again and flip through it. “In that case, make me poultry curry.”

Ganondorf chuckled. He moved his arm to catch Zelda in a one-sided hug. “I can do that,” he said, enjoying how Zelda immediately blushed. He released his hold and tousled his hair. “You want anything else?”

“N-no,” Zelda hastily answered, bashful. “That’ll be enough.”

“I wish you could see your face right now.” Ganondorf grinned. “This thing can take pictures, right? How do I get to it?”

 _“Swipe to the far left,”_ Link said in their minds, grinning in his tone.

Both Zelda and Ganondorf jumped at the sound of the knight’s voice in their heads, as he was still several yards away with their horse. Link looked up from her flank and waved.

“Link!” Zelda exclaimed. “Were you spying on us with your Triforce?”

With a cheeky expression, he signed, _“I was told to keep an eye on you two.”_

Zelda groaned, equal parts embarrassed and indignant, but he couldn’t really be mad. This was the happiest he had seen Link all day. He continued feigning annoyance and said, “That’s just creepy.”

 _“Sorry,”_ he answered, though his expression showed he wasn’t very repentant. _“I was just curious.”_ Link left the horse and walked over to them.

“Maybe a word of warning next time?” Ganondorf said, merely amused by their banter.

 _“I will.”_ Link picked up the cooking pot and set it up over the fire. _“Let’s get cooking.”_

* * *

After Ganondorf left with the cooking pot, Vaati switched to his Hylian form and leaned back on his hands. He smiled wistfully while he watched Ganondorf sit down and flirt with Zelda.

“Do you remember when Ganondorf was little?” Vaati asked Ghirahim, turning up his head to face the demon. “When I met him, he was six years old and the most horrible little monster I had ever met.”

Though confused by the seemingly random question, Ghirahim smirked wryly at the description. “Of course. He was an absolute menace.” He remembered Ganondorf’s bossy phase with fondness in hindsight, though it had been maddening at the time. Twinrova had him thoroughly spoiled and sold on becoming the King of Darkness, but all of his desires had been childish nuisances like dessert before dinner and playgrounds shaped like palaces. He glanced down at Vaati. “Did he try to order you around all night and day too?”

“At first, yes,” Vaati answered. “He mostly wanted me to show him magic tricks and to tell him stories about where I came from.”

“I see. He wanted me for an errand boy, despite that he had all of the Yiga to command.”

“I remember. He complained to me and Nabooru a lot about how you wouldn’t obey him.”

“Well, he didn’t deserve to command me until he could fight.” Ghirahim paused, continuing to remember the past. The knowledge that Ganondorf had had a secret confidant made him reconsider many of the memories he had of him as a small child. It certainly recolored the entire time the Gerudo had an ‘imaginary’ friend called _Skish-mak._ Marveling over it, Ghirahim said, “So, you really were living with them this whole time?”

“I was.”

Ghirahim turned towards the Minish. He stared hard at him, as if his very existence insulted his many talents. “How in all the realms did I never notice you before?”

Vaati smiled thinly. “Minish aren’t meant to be seen.” His expression fell somewhat. “Our only purpose is to secretly spread joy.” The quiet words were said more in bitterness than pride.

“And never be known for your actions?” Ghirahim asked in disbelief. “How can you stand such anonymity?”

Shrugging, Vaati said, “My desire to be recognized caused me to lose myself, so I lost my taste for it when I was separated from the monster I became. Seeing people happy is all that matters to me now.”

“Sounds like hogwash. Do you really want for nothing more?” It was obvious to Ghirahim that Vaati was merely parroting others’ sentiments. Why the Minish had such ideas, he didn’t know. The demon had never read the Picori fairy tales that supposedly told Vaati’s history. It would probably help him understand, however, so he made a mental note to do so.

“Well, I would like to return to my own time,” Vaati admitted, “if only so I can see my teacher and my own people again. But I am content here.”

“Hm.” Ghirahim noticed Ganondorf and Zelda become startled by something and then saw Link wave at them. The demon smiled at Zelda’s indignant rebuke to being spied on and noted the irony in that Link wasn’t the only one privy to the royal heir’s coquettish advances.

“Did you ever wonder why Ganondorf grew out of his selfishness?” Vaati asked.

Ghirahim turned his attention back to the Minish. “Yes, actually. I assume you had some hand in it?”

“I did. It was a lot of work, making him unlearn all of the bad habits you and Twinrova taught him. I didn’t punish him whenever he misbehaved. I just only gave him what he wanted when he acted with kindness.”

“And that was enough?” Ghirahim asked, skeptical.

“You underestimate how much a child craves affection. Ganondorf was lonely. He didn’t realize that he wanted friends, not servants. So, as soon as I showed him the difference, Koume and Kotake stopped being able to offer him anything he really wanted.”

“I see.” Reflective, Ghirahim looked back at their companions. They were setting up the cooking pot and getting out ingredients for their lunch, looking happy as could be despite doing servants’ work. He couldn’t understand the appeal, though he tried to imagine what could be enjoyable about it.

“In many ways, I see you as similar to Ganondorf back then.”

“Me?” Ghirahim leaned back, insulted. “I’m not a child.”

“You have the emotional maturity of a six-year-old,” Vaati said bluntly.

“I do not!” Ghirahim retorted, though he realized he was proving Vaati point. “Gah!” He crossed his arms. “Why must you aggravate me so with the face of a child?”

“Because I don’t like raising my voice to be heard at my true size, and I don’t want to take an adult form.”

“Why?”

“The last time I appeared as an adult Hylian, I nearly killed many people.” Vaati paused to let the point sink in, continuing to face Ghirahim with a somber expression. “I’ve told the others I don’t take that form because it requires more magic, but in truth, it is because I don’t like being reminded of how it felt when I held that much power. I can imagine remembering your past now is the same.”

Ghirahim didn’t need the reminder of his freak out that morning. He turned away with a scowl. Changing his appearance was the only thing he could do to stop dwelling on his uncertain memories. It was much easier to ruminate on this century than to remember the life he had lived before watching Demise be murdered, before their war with Hylia, before he met the Demon King, before he had any purpose in living.

Vaati hopped off the wagon and landed on his hands and feet in the grass. “I’m going to rejoin the others,” he said, righting himself. “If you want to make friends with Link and Zelda, you’re going to have to apologize for your past actions. If you’re not ready to do that yet, work on seeing things through their perspective.”

Ghirahim wanted to say that it was a pointless and ridiculous idea and that Link and Zelda should just forget the past, but he held his tongue. The Minish had won his grudging respect, if only by virtue of being a better sorcerer than him. The demon was smart enough to know that it was no simple feat for the Minish to have evaded his powers of perception for over a decade.

As Vaati walked away and greeted their companions, Ghirahim felt that empty gap in his chest more acutely. Vaati complimented the smell of Ganondorf’s cooking as the Gerudo stirred the curry. Link and Zelda talked excitedly about trying it. Even if Ghirahim didn’t understand or want to try Vaati’s way, he couldn’t deny the Minish was right about one thing. Ghirahim was lonely, and he wanted more than servants to adore him or a master to obey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ghirahim and Vaati becoming friends wasn't something I ever really planned, but it was these past two chapters that really emphasized how much they have in common. I didn't really expect to like either of them as much as I do now.


	51. “I just want everyone to forgive each other.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We reached 250 kudos! Thank you all so much for reading and liking this fic. I've put so much of myself into writing it, so every milestone really means a lot to me.

It was nearing sunset when the horse and wagon reached the base of the Great Plateau. The dying day’s long shadows stretched over the wall’s surviving architecture and the stone behind it that had been revealed through eons of weathering. The overhanging cliffs stood far above them. It was with some worry that Zelda began to doubt his ability to actually climb up to its top.

The wagon turned left at the wall and continued for some time until it reached Gatepost Town. Like its neighbors, the town was a small but quickly growing settlement that depended on traders passing through during their travels to and from large cities. The short, outer wall of Gatepost Town was made of stacked stones, and the majority of buildings were built with rickety wood. A handful of them near the wall had damaged or burned down completely, no doubt due to monster attacks. Torches had been lit at the entrance to fend off the encroaching night and stal monsters, and others were being lit along the streets as their wagon continued on.

The inn they found had only one room left. After some discussion, their impatience for dinner won out over looking for another place, and they decided Link and Zelda would share the bed. Ganondorf would sleep on the floor in the bedroll he had packed. Vaati would sleep in the Gerudo’s bag, as usual, and Ghirahim could return to Zelda’s rapier if he wished to rest, though he asserted that sleep was for mortals.

The party got food at the inn’s busy tavern and enjoyed a Rito minstrel’s songs about the Champions. It reminded Link that they still hadn’t gotten an update about the state of the divine beasts on their side. When they finished dinner, Link got up to go to their room to go contact Impa again. Ganondorf passed Vaati to Link and asked Zelda to wait a minute before the royal heir could follow the knight upstairs.

“What is it?” Zelda asked, knotting his eyebrows in confusion.

“I just want to talk for a minute,” Ganondorf said, “if that’s okay?”

“Uh… Sure?” Zelda glanced at Ghirahim, who had hung back behind them. “Is this some kind of intervention?”

“Not exactly?” Ganondorf also glanced at the demon. “Ghirahim, can you wait here or go hang out with Link and Vaati?”

Ghirahim looked dubiously at Ganondorf, but then cast his eyes skyward. He feigned a tone of indifference. “If your intention is to find somewhere private for illicit romance, fireflies should be in the woods by Lake Kolomo right now.”

Zelda blushed. Ganondorf sighed, exasperated and yet caught off guard by the fact that Ghirahim could suggest something nice like that. He rubbed between his eyes. “Thank you, Ghirahim, but that’s not my intention.”

“Is it really?” Ghirahim gave Ganondorf a shrewd, impish look. As he skipped to the stairs, he said, “Just don’t break the princess, Ganny. He needs to be able to walk tomorrow.”

“Ghirahim!” Ganondorf could have strangled the demon for that comment, especially as he laughed on his way upstairs. Zelda buried his face in his hands, no doubt trying to disappear. “Come on,” Ganondorf muttered, patting Zelda’s back to usher him to the door.

Zelda waited for his face to cool down while they walked. A handful of other people were out and about in the town, enjoying the evening or completing last-minute errands. It was with some surprise when Zelda noticed that Ganondorf was taking them towards Lake Kolomo.

Past the town’s short, outer wall was an empty stretch of grass and a little grove of aspen. Green lights blinked between their white trunks. The lake reflected the moon behind them. As Ganondorf and Zelda stopped at the wall, a slight breeze rustled the aspen’s whispery leaves and carried the fresh scent of the woods and water.

“Huh,” Ganondorf said, taking in the sight. “So he wasn’t joking.”

Zelda did a double-take as he realized Ganondorf was right. He frowned as he continued watching the fireflies by the lake. “How did he know about this?”

“He’s probably been here before.” Ganondorf climbed up onto the wall and sat down to face the woods. Holding out his hand to help Zelda up, he added, “Ghirahim didn’t have to stay in the Yiga’s hideout all the time like me.”

Zelda took Ganondorf’s hand. After he was lifted up and set down on top of the wall, feeling a little thrill as always at the casual display of the Gerudo’s strength, Zelda crossed his legs and held his ankles. “You should’ve been able to go to places like this.”

“Yeah.” Ganondorf watched the fireflies, thoughtful. “That was more my mothers’ fault than his, I think.” Though he hadn’t really spent his entire life underground, all the times he had left were only for brief excursions or survival exercises under Ghirahim’s supervision. The first and only time his mothers had ever allowed him anywhere near Hylians was during his trip to the castle’s treasure room, and even then, they hadn’t risked staying at any stable or inn.

“Why?” Glancing up at Ganondorf, Zelda said, “Ghirahim is just as responsible for keeping you captive. He’s part of the reason your real mom is dead.”

Ganondorf averted his gaze. “I know,” he said quietly. “But… Well, ever since Link told us Demise fucked him up, it’s kind of put things into a new perspective for me.” He went quiet, reminiscing on his history with the demon.

Ghirahim had always stood by his mothers while they dealt out their abuse, but he was also responsible for tending to his wounds afterwards. After Nabooru learned healing magic, Ghirahim was still the one to bring him to his sister every time. And, of course, Ganondorf wouldn’t have learned swordplay or anything else he needed to survive his mothers ‘lessons’ without all of the countless days they spent in Ghirahim’s sparring room. Even if his life hadn’t depended on it, he still would have chosen to have him as his teacher.

Ganondorf knew these facts alone weren’t enough to excuse the fact that Ghirahim could have taken him and Nabooru back to Chief Saburi at any point, but Ganondorf realized he couldn’t recall the demon doing anything worse than inaction. Ghirahim talked big about killing their enemies and enjoying bloodshed, but Ganondorf had never actually seen him kill someone. When he had turned on Link only to dramatically change his mind, it was the same act he employed the last time he nearly struck down some new Yiga members for calling Ganondorf a fake. It was in those acts of mercy that Ganondorf figured the demon’s past self subconsciously grappled with the corrupted version Demise created.

“Okay?” Zelda tilted his head. Ganondorf’s miserable expression reminded him of when they first met, when Ganondorf had grabbed Zelda’s ankle and begged him to stay by his cell instead of run away. Zelda didn’t know if he could give Ganondorf whatever he needed now. “If you’re asking me to pity Ghirahim, it’s not going to work.”

“No, that’s not what I want.” Ganondorf ran a hand over his face, struggling to find words. “I wanted to talk to you because you keep getting pissed off at him when we’re supposed to be working together.”

“I don’t know how _not_ to get mad at him,” Zelda protested. “He’s done nothing to make up for all of the things he’s done.”

“That’s not true.” To emphasize his point, Ganondorf gestured towards the fireflies. “It’s not a lot, but he’s trying.”

“Telling us about a pretty spot doesn’t count when he uses it to embarrass us,” Zelda said.

“I know, but that’s just how he _is._ ” Ganondorf lifted and dropped his hands. “He’s always acted allergic to being genuine. Whether that’s always been his personality or just because of Demise, I don’t know. But I _do_ know that I don’t really mind it. He’s annoying as shit and I act like I hate him, but I don’t really.” He paused, smiling humorlessly as his thoughts drifted. “I don’t really hate my mothers either.”

Zelda leaned away, surprised. “Why?”

“They raised me, Kit.” Ganondorf stared at the grass beneath them. “I don’t remember my birth mother like Nab. My mothers treated her like shit, but they weren’t like that with me.” He paused again. “Because Ghirahim’s trying to be good now, I can’t help but feel like they can get better too.”

“But they were never good to begin with,” Zelda protested. “Just because they were nice to you for a while doesn’t mean they aren’t still bad people.”

“Yeah, but you don’t understand. Not all of the things they want to do to change Hyrule are wrong. They _could_ have been good if they were given the chance. All they wanted to do was study ancient tech, but nobody let them just because they were Gerudo.”

Zelda stared at Ganondorf in disbelief. Then he lowered his eyebrows and said, “When normal people don’t get what they want, they don’t resort to reviving a terrorist organization.”

Ganondorf pressed his lips into a thin line, but couldn’t argue against Zelda’s point. Instead he sighed heavily through his nose. “I know it just sounds like I’m making excuses for them. But I just… I don’t know.” He lifted and dropped his hands. “Maybe that is all I’m doing.”

“Maybe.” Zelda shook his head. “It’s not necessarily bad that you can’t give up hope for the best in other people, though.” He grabbed his ponytail and pulled his fingers through his hair. “Me… I stopped believing a long time ago that I could ever change what people think.”

“We got Ghirahim to change his mind. He called you a he before we left.”

“Did he?” Zelda sat up, confused as he tried to remember.

“Yeah. He still called you princess, but he didn’t say she.”

“Oh.” Zelda supposed he was right. “Still. Just because we could with him doesn’t really help me fix things with everyone else.”

“I guess. But the point is, they’re basically like family to me. My mothers _are_ my mothers, and Ghirahim’s like a weird uncle or something.”

Zelda snorted. “What’s Vaati then? If they’re like family, he has to be.”

“Oh, definitely.” Ganondorf pondered it for a moment. “I guess a cousin? Or a brother?”

“I think cousin fits him better,” Zelda said. “What about your real family?”

“Well, I’m closest to Nab, obviously, but it’s not just because she’s my sister. If you mean Chief Saburi or my father, I’d have to say I don’t really know what to think about them. We might be related by blood, but we don’t know each other.” Ganondorf rubbed at a callus on his palm. “I think I’m probably closer to my mothers and Ghirahim than them because of that.”

Zelda went quiet as he pondered Ganondorf’s situation. If he had been kidnapped and raised by murders, he couldn’t imagine having any sympathy for them. He’d sooner wish for their deaths than any sort of redemption.

After a minute, Zelda asked, “Do you think you won’t be able to fight your mothers if we have to kill them?” He looked up at Ganondorf.

Ganondorf pushed his fingers through his hair and sighed. “I don’t know. You might find this hard to believe, but I’ve never killed anyone. I’ve had to watch the Yiga kill other people, but they’ve never made me be the one to do it.”

“Okay, but if it’s between your mothers and the kingdom, you could still make the right choice, right?”

“If you want me to say that I would murder my mothers, I won’t.”

“But what if it was me or—?”

“No, just don’t.” Ganondorf rubbed his temples with his thumb and fingers. “I don’t want to think about it.”

Zelda frowned, concerned. “We need to have some sort of plan when we go face them.”

“I know, but I don’t want whatever we do to have to come to that.”

Zelda studied Ganondorf for a moment. He noted his tense shoulders and curled fingers. With a quiet start, he recognized the feeling – the ache of his heart in conflict with itself. It was how Zelda felt about his father. Despite how much he wanted to hate him, he still cared about him and his approval. It would have been so much easier if he could just lock up and hide the tiny child inside of himself that still wanted his father’s acceptance, to pretend that his father wasn’t a person capable of empathy or understanding, but the truth was that he couldn’t. There were just some feelings that couldn’t be rationalized away.

Turning away, Zelda murmured, “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.”

“No, it’s not. I just keep picturing Twinrova and their divine beast as some kind of storybook villains, but this is personal for you.” He paused. His voice grew quieter. “I shouldn’t have forgotten that.”

Ganondorf nodded slightly. “More than anything, I just want everyone to forgive each other and move on.”

Zelda reached for Ganondorf’s hand. When he accepted his hold, Zelda rubbed his thumb against the side of his fingers and leaned against his arm. Despite the thin fabric of his shirtsleeve and the cooling night air, the Gerudo was still surprisingly warm. “I can’t promise that I can, but I’ll try at least.”

Smiling softly, Ganondorf said, “Thank you.” He moved his arm to wrap it around Zelda, fitting the royal heir neatly in the crook beneath his shoulder. He regretted the fact that he was too tall for them to lean their heads against each other. Yet as Zelda traced the patterns on his pants with his finger, raising goosebumps along his thigh, Ganondorf supposed this wasn’t bad either.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I spent sooooo long on this chapter, trying to balance the very real harm Ghirahim has caused/allowed in Gan's life and his redeeming qualities. I don't want to belittle the bad things he, Koume, and Kotake have done, but given my own complicated experience with my family, I felt like Gan's perspective and reasons for his sympathy needed to be discussed. I don't know if I succeeded in achieving that balance between sympathy and hatred, explaining but not necessarily excusing their actions, but I hope I came close enough.


	52. “About being enough.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I went back and forth a long time, debating whether or not to include this chapter or to put it with the rest of my bonus content. This was the chapter that I started with the intent to make it explicit, but then it became something else? It ended up staying in mostly because (1) I didn't like it as a stand-alone ficlet and (2) I felt like it sort of added something important, even if most of it is just rehashing what other chapters have said better. I don't know - I'll let you all decide.

A cool breeze rustled the aspen surrounding Lake Kolomo. The blinking fireflies drifted between the trees’ white trunks and over the lake’s glimmering, moonlit surface. The evening brought a shiver out of Zelda while he sat with Ganondorf. Unable to help himself, Zelda pressed closer to the Gerudo, savoring his warmth. His linen shirt smelled like safflina and saffron and a hint of natural musk. He wanted to wrap himself in it and never leave.

Ganondorf chuckled as Zelda nuzzled against him. He ran his hand up and down the royal heir’s slender arm, trying to settle his shivering, before letting his palm rest on his head with his arm still folded around him. “Do you want to head back now?”

Zelda shook his head, rubbing his forehead against Ganondorf’s side. “Not yet.” He turned his head towards the lake. “It’s nice out,” he said, as if the scenery was his primary motivation to stay exactly where he was.

“It is,” Ganondorf murmured, staring at Zelda. When the royal heir shivered again, pulling his legs up closer to his chest, he undid the clasp on his cloak and pulled it over Zelda’s shoulders.

Zelda stiffened as he felt Ganondorf’s cloak envelope him, but practically melted beneath it as its warmth blocked the evening’s chill. He grabbed its edge and pulled it closer around himself. Blushing, he said, “Thanks.”

“Of course.” Ganondorf grinned. “You’re so tiny, you need the layers.”

“I’m not tiny,” Zelda protested. “You’re just a giant.”

Ganondorf merely hummed in response. While he watched the fireflies, he absentmindedly pet Zelda’s head, occasionally scratching his scalp. Zelda sighed in pleasure. When Ganondorf’s fingers reached the base of the royal heir’s ponytail, he asked, “Do you always wear your hair up like this?”

“Mm-hmm.” Zelda nodded sleepily, pushing his head back up into Ganondorf’s fingers in an unspoken request for more pets.

“Can I see what it looks like when it’s down?” He thumbed the edge of Zelda’s hair tie.

Zelda frowned. Not looking up, he asked, “Why?”

“Just curious.” With a wry smile, he added, “It’d make it easier to keep petting you, too.”

Blushing harder, Zelda sputtered, “I don’t—you—it—”

Ganondorf laughed. “Relax. There aren’t any servants here who’ll talk.” He glanced over his shoulder, back towards the inn they were staying at, but the streets were clear. “There isn’t anybody but us out here.” Presumably, everyone awake was either home or at a bar somewhere.

“Still…” Zelda muttered, his face still hot with embarrassment.

“You make it too easy to tease you.” Ganondorf continued scratching Zelda’s head, eliciting another happy sigh from the royal heir before he grumbled a curse.

“ _You_ make it too hard to stay cool.”

“Is that your way of saying I’m hot?” Ganondorf said with a grin, pulling Zelda closer for a moment.

Trying very hard to be angry despite smiling, Zelda pressed his face into Ganondorf’s side. “You’re the worst.”

“If you want to get away, you’re going in the wrong direction.”

“Well,” Zelda retorted, struggling to think of a comeback, “your face is in the wrong direction.”

“My face?” Ganondorf said, doubling over laughing.

Zelda felt Ganondorf’s entire chest shaking with his laughter and couldn’t stop himself from laughing too. “I’m tired, okay?”

“I think you’re more than tired, Kit.”

“Shut up.” Zelda playfully backhanded Ganondorf’s waist, hitting a wall of muscle. It reminded him that the only thing that was separating him from the Gerudo’s abs was his thin shirt, and he found himself glancing down at Ganondorf’s lap. He blushed harder. If he was more than tired, Zelda concluded that the rest of him was just incredibly gay.

“Okay, okay.” Ganondorf relented, having tensed up at being hit. He told himself it was fine, that it didn’t hurt and Zelda didn’t mean anything by it. He had seen the royal heir play fight with Link often enough to know that. Once he relaxed again, he let another minute pass in thoughtful silence. “I don’t know why, but it’s just fun, making you flustered like this.” He hesitated, then asked, “It doesn’t really bother you that much, does it?”

Zelda shook his head. He was still feeling too shy to face Ganondorf, so he kept his forehead neatly tucked beneath the Gerudo’s arm. “No, I just… I’m just awkward. Courting nobles was never like this. We all had to follow proper etiquette and all that, so it wasn’t that hard, playing pretend. Being a princess, I know how that’s supposed to go. But being _me_ … I don’t really know how to do that _,_ I guess.”

“I see.” Ganondorf pondered the thought for a moment. “That makes sense, honestly. But I don’t think there’s really a wrong way to be yourself. As long as you’re happy, it doesn’t matter.”

“Yeah, probably.” Zelda pulled around his ponytail and began fiddling with its ends. “I just wish that… I don’t know, that I could be more confident or be taken seriously. I know I’m not great at a long of things, but you… You make it seem easy to know what to do.”

Ganondorf smiled sadly. “It’s not. It’s just practice, and knowing that any action is better than inaction. The only reason I’ve survived everything that I have is because I was never given the luxury to doubt myself.”

“Is that really a kind of luxury?” Zelda made himself sit up finally to look at Ganondorf’s face.

“Kind of.” Ganondorf only glanced at Zelda before facing the grass. “I may be able to repeat time or slow it down, but that’s not the same as having free time. To just be able to have a problem and not have to immediately solve it. To know that if I failed, someone else could fix it for me.” He paused. He picked at the calluses on his hands. “I never got that.”

Zelda took Ganondorf’s hand. The Gerudo gave his fingers a squeeze, and the royal heir held him tightly in return. With a heavy sigh, Zelda said, “I wish I could say I could fix everything for you. I feel like I _should_ be able to, being royalty and all. But I don’t know how.”

“All the power in the world can’t solve every problem.” Ganondorf shrugged.

Even though Zelda knew he was right, he didn’t want to dwell on it. He glanced down at his hands and his ponytail threaded through his fingers. He bit his lip. After a moment, he reached up and pulled out his hair tie.

“Hm?” Ganondorf lifted his eyebrows, confused.

Zelda massaged his scalp, coaxing his hair to smooth out and lay down. His roots tingled with the change. “You wanted to see what it looks like,” he said, scooting back a bit so Ganondorf could better face him. He pulled Ganondorf’s cloak off his shoulders and laid it across his lap. He then finger-combed his hair, pulling half of it in front of himself. The ends settled on his waist. It framed the side of his face while Zelda looked self-consciously at the Gerudo, forcing an awkward smile. He restrained himself from fidgeting with his hair by gripping Ganondorf’s cloak instead. “So…”

Touched by the gesture and his trust, Ganondorf smiled. “It looks like a lot of hair.”

Zelda laughed and smacked Ganondorf’s arm. “Duh. Don’t you have anything else to say?”

Ganondorf chuckled, though he held his arm reflexively. “Are you expecting me to say you look better with it down or something?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “Because I don’t really care. If having it down makes you uncomfortable, though, I like it better up.”

His words made Zelda blush and hunch in his shoulders, equal parts embarrassed and overcome with delight. He tried not to show too much of his excitement, though. “Really?”

“Yeah. You don’t have to change any part of yourself to make me like you better.”

Zelda’s whole chest tightened and hid his face in his hands, unable to stop his grin while he mentally freaked out.

Ganondorf watched Zelda silently squealing with a somber smile, glad to have made him happy, but disappointed since he realized it was probably because no one had ever told him his real self was worthy of any praise.

“Come here,” Ganondorf said, pulling Zelda against himself once more. “You’re being too cute.”

“Ah!” Zelda jumped as he found himself laying against Ganondorf’s chest, but bashfully remained put. He wanted to be mad since he hated feminine compliments. It was what he always heard from his suitors before anything else, admiration for his appearance, as if his body was the only thing that mattered. But Ganondorf wasn’t like that, and the royal heir wasn’t about to stop any of the flattery he could get. Yet even still, he couldn’t help but pout and ask, “Can’t I be anything besides cute?”

Ganondorf threaded his fingers through Zelda’s hair, amused. “How about funny?”

“Better, but… Mmm.” Zelda sunk down in Ganondorf’s arms as the Gerudo began gently scratching his scalp.

Ganondorf breathed a laugh. If Zelda had been a cat, he could practically hear him purring. It made him wonder if foxes could purr too, and from there his mind wandered, thinking about the fireflies and the frogs at the lake in front of them and all of the other animals he had learned about. How their ecosystems worked and what could be killed and eaten in survival situations. The train of thought led him back to his mothers and how, despite all of the care they put into his education, they never showed him how relationships were supposed to work. He had no idea what a healthy relationship was supposed to look like beyond family, and even that was on shaky ground.

He wondered if Vaati would have any advice, even though the Minish disliked seeing them flirting. There wasn’t really anyone else he could ask. Ghirahim would likely be more than happy to help, but the demon would certainly make the discussion more embarrassing than necessary, and his obsession with Demise suggested that he didn’t know how to have healthy attachments either. Ganondorf didn’t really know Link well enough to know if the knight would be comfortable with the idea period.

Zelda shifted slightly beneath Ganondorf’s hand, moving his head so the Gerudo’s fingers could better rub behind his ear. Softly interrupting the silence, Zelda asked, “Do you ever wish that you could have been someone else? Like if you could’ve been born a girl or a Hylian?”

The question surprised Ganondorf. It took him a moment to reorient his thoughts and consider it. “Not really? There was a little while when I wished I wasn’t a boy, but it wasn’t because I wanted to be a girl. It was just because, you know. Being told people wanted to kill me because of it. It was the reason my mothers wanted me to begin with.”

“Right…” Zelda frowned, regretting that he had asked. He only voiced the question because he was thinking about how much he wished he could have been born a boy or some peasant who didn’t have the weight of a kingdom’s expectations on their shoulders. If he and Ganondorf had just been normal people, it would have been a lot easier to enjoy the evening without guilt nettling him.

“I don’t mind so much now,” Ganondorf said. “I generally like the person I turned out to be. I just… I worry too much. About being enough. About what other people want me to be instead.”

“Goddess, yes.” Zelda sighed. “It’s always a fight. Stand up for yourself and you get beat down, or save everyone the effort and beat yourself down instead.”

Ganondorf smiled wryly. “It’s not much of a choice, is it?”

“It hardly is.” Zelda slid out from beneath Ganondorf’s hand now that he was getting worked up over it. “And I want to say I that I always can stand up, but it’s just, it’s _exhausting_.” He held out his hands. “Every day, it’s ‘what were you thinking, Zelda?’ or ‘stop acting like that, Zelda, you’re a _princess_.’” He pushed his fingers through his hair and pulled back on it. “It makes me want bring down the whole castle sometimes.”

“I wonder if you could,” Ganondorf mused, glancing at Zelda’s Triforce mark.

“Ugh, don’t tempt me.” Zelda picked up his hair tie and began finger-combing his hair back into a ponytail. “Nayru knows I wouldn’t stop if I started.”

“I don’t know about that.” Ganondorf watched Zelda’s hands as they worked. “You have a quick temper, but you don’t ever stay mad for very long.”

Zelda looked sidelong at Ganondorf. “Is that supposed to be a compliment?”

“Not really?” Ganondorf lifted his eyebrows, sheepish. “It’s just an observation.”

Zelda finished tying up his hair. “I guess I’ll give you that. I’ve always been told I have a temper like Din.” He rolled back his shoulders and stared at the sky. It had gone fully black except for the glimmer of stars. “Do you think when we finally finish everything with your mothers that things can really change?”

“I mean, all we can do is hope, right?”

The question hung in the air while Zelda continued studying the stars. He recognized the constellation of the light spirit Ordona and the wolf who followed its guidance. The moon was half dark, as if the Malice that had dyed it red had taken some of its brilliance too. But Zelda knew it was merely in its waning phases. It would become brighter again soon.

“Yeah,” Zelda said eventually, smiling softly. “I guess that’s true.”


	53. “Pretending there isn’t a problem anymore doesn’t make it go away.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case y'all were wondering what the others were up to while Kit and Gan had their heart to heart, wonder no longer! This chapter was the second I wrote in my efforts to explore Link's POV (the first being lunch with his parents), and it was the one that ended up spawning five more chapters too. The boys just had so much to say once I got them talking to each other!
> 
> Also, I got more fan art! [ShinyCharX](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShinyCharX/pseuds/ShinyCharX) drew this adorable drawing of Kit and Gan together, which you can find on their Twitter here: <https://twitter.com/CThekoopaking/status/1288913139761926146>.

When Link got up from the table to return to their room at Gatepost Town’s inn, he was already thinking over how to summarize their second day on the road to Impa. It caught him by surprise when Ganondorf asked him to take Vaati so the Gerudo could talk to Zelda outside. Link looked dubiously at him as he accepted the Minish, but it didn’t take much Wisdom to guess why the Ganondorf wanted to talk to the royal heir. He moved Vaati to his shoulder without any questions.

As Link proceeded up the stairs, he overheard Ghirahim teasing Ganondorf and Zelda. The knight couldn’t help but laugh under his breath at the demon’s suggestive comment. When Ghirahim fled Ganondorf’s ire, laughing as he ran up the stairs, Link nimbly stepped to the side to let the demon pass.

 _“They really make it too easy, don’t they?”_ Link thought mostly to himself, but it was just his luck that Vaati and the demon both heard him. It was going to take more than just one day of practice to learn how to fully control his telepathy.

“Indeed,” Ghirahim said once he reached the top of the stairs. He turned to face Link as the knight climbed up the rest of the way. “It is impossible to resist. Though I must confess, I’m surprised you don’t take umbrage with it.”

Link shrugged, then signed, _“This teasing is harmless, so long as we don’t go overboard with it.”_ His expression grew thoughtful. _“It will only become a problem if they decide to become serious with their flirting. The king, after all…”_ He forcefully pulled himself away from that train of thought, not wishing to share his feelings about Zelda’s father. He had many reasons to not air his grievances, the least being that his freedoms were dependent on the king’s favor.

“The king what?” Ghirahim asked, raising an eyebrow. “I know he didn’t appreciate my little joke, but he can hardly forbid his own heir from pursuing his object of interest.”

 _“Well, he can, actually,”_ Link answered. _“You know I’m engaged to Zelda, right?”_

“Yes, I’ve heard.” Ghirahim continued down the hallway to their room. “The Yiga may literally live under rocks, but we keep up with the news like everyone else.”

_“Then why do you think it won’t be an issue if Zelda wants something more with Ganondorf?”_

“The holders of the Triforce always get what they want in the end. One mortal king can’t prevent that.” Ghirahim waved his hand over the lock to open their door rather than ask Link for their room key. He stepped inside and gestured for Link and Vaati to enter first.

Link frowned as he passed Ghirahim, bothered both by his words and the casual subversion of their room’s security. _“Show-off.”_ He walked over to the bed. _“You underestimate the influence of the king,”_ he thought, regretting it as soon as it crossed his mind. He signed, _“I don’t want to argue about this.”_ He then held up his hand for Vaati to step off his shoulder onto his palm and set him down on the bed’s floral quilt.

Intrigued, Ghirahim tipped back his head. “Is this an argument?”

 _“It feels like it,”_ Link thought as he sat down beside Vaati and pulled off his boots. _“Just let me focus on talking to Impa.”_

Ghirahim looked put out to be brushed aside so bluntly. With a pout, he turned his attention to the rest of their room. Besides the bed, their room had a simple wardrobe, a desk, and a nightstand with an oil lamp, all scuffed and dented by countless past guests. A sketch of a farmstead hung on a custard cream colored wall, which Ghirahim found disgustingly quaint. Zelda and Ganondorf had already dropped off their bags before dinner, leaving them slumped together at the foot of the bed.

While Link sat cross-legged and closed his eyes to contact Impa, Ghirahim wandered to the window. He caught a glimpse of Ganondorf and Zelda walking down the street towards Lake Kolomo and smiled to himself. He leaned his hip against the window frame. As he continued watching the street, studying the passersby, he crossed his arms.

Vaati switched to his Hylian form and slid off the bed. His small, sandaled feet landed with a quiet thump and padded silently across the floor to Ghirahim. He put his hands on the windowsill to pull himself up and shrink back down into his Minish form. The view wasn’t as interesting to him, so he breathed on the glass and drew tiny stars and clouds.

Ghirahim chuckled when he noticed. “Why are you doing that?” he asked softly, so as not to disturb Link. The space of Minish’s foggy canvas was no larger than a matchbox.

Vaati paused after adding another star. Both his breath and drawings disappeared in the intervening moment. “It’s something to do?”

“Surely you have less ephemeral pastimes.”

“Is people-watching not as fleeting for you?” Vaati asked in return.

Ghirahim tipped his head to the side, conceding the point. “Touché.”

“Besides, these drawings don’t really disappear completely.” Vaati breathed on the glass again. The outlines of his stars and clouds appeared once more. “I like to think that if a child stays in this room after us, they may find this little memento and enjoy it.”

Bemused, Ghirahim rolled his eyes. “Must everything you do be in service to others?”

“You make it sound insulting to be kind.”

“I just can’t comprehend it. Doing favors makes sense because they can be repaid, but what is there to gain from these little acts of whimsy?”

Vaati silently considered the question. “I don’t expect to personally gain anything from little things like this. I know it will almost certainly go unnoticed. But that said, we always notice the absence of small gestures. My teacher says it’s like walking through a garden. If you’re not one of the people tending to it, it’s easy to forget just how much work goes into the weeding and fertilizing required to make flowers bloom. It’s only when gardeners abandon their work that the people who don’t help learn what they had taken for granted.”

“Hmm.” Ghirahim pondered the thought. “So you mean to say that the world would become infested with weeds if there weren’t gardeners like you?”

“Exactly.”

Ghirahim smirked, wryly amused by the Minish’s naïve ideals. He glanced down at him. “I suppose you would consider the Yiga some sort of invasive pest in this analogy too?”

Vaati laughed. “Well, yes,” he answered, looking rueful.

“If only it were so simple.” Ghirahim returned his attention to the few people outside. His mind drifted towards memories of Demise and the vain war they had fought. The empty spot in his chest ached anew. Hylia and her people had been too self-righteous to ever see them as more than weeds in their garden, yet he and Demise had been too weak to prove them otherwise.

Ghirahim rested his forehead against the window and half-closed his eyes. “Tell me about your teacher,” he asked, trying to keep the resurgence of his pathetic, frustrating _feelings_ out of his tone. “You mentioned him and didn’t elaborate.”

Vaati noticed Ghirahim’s inner turmoil in his expression, but decided against commenting on it. “Okay. His name is Ezlo. Many believe he’s the greatest sorcerer to have ever existed in Hyrule, but most who think that have never seen what an obnoxious windbag he can be.” Vaati smiled sadly, recalling how his teacher would always call him a little pest in return. “We took to each other like an old, married couple – always fighting, but never really meaning it. When he took me in, he wasn’t nearly as ready as he believed he was to care for a surly orphan.”

The Minish’s story captivated the demon, despite that he maintained an air of indifference. As Vaati continued talking, Link finished speaking with Impa and noticed what he was missing. He turned his ear more towards Vaati to better hear without interrupting. Though he had read the Picori fairy tales many times, it was fascinating to hear a side of the story that was never included.

Ghirahim noticed Link listening, but waited until Vaati finished speaking to draw attention to him. “Any good news from the Sheikah?”

Link shook his head. _“The divine beasts are inoperable.”_

“That’s unfortunate,” Vaati said. “Though we did assume that would be the case.”

_“Is our only option left really to face Ganondorf’s mothers head-on?”_

“It can’t be,” Vaati said, “but I don’t have any better ideas right now.” He glanced at Ghirahim for his input. “Do you?”

“Plenty,” Ghirahim answered, “but they require subterfuge and lethal means to eliminate them, and regrettably, Ganny is opposed to such things.”

 _“I am too,”_ Link signed, bothered by the demon’s casual suggestion of murder. It reminded him too much of how close Ghirahim came to killing him, no matter if the demon actually meant it or not, and of what Ganondorf had said to the Great Deku Tree. Ghirahim had allowed him to die countless times, let Twinrova kill Inume, and helped cause the blood moons. The deaths caused by monster attacks across the country were just as much on his hands as they were on Ganondorf’s mothers’, in the knight’s opinion. He turned away and studied the floral pattern on the bedspread to try to keep his thoughts silent, but one still slipped through. _“We don’t need you to kill any more people.”_

Ghirahim straightened up at Link’s thought and frowned. He let his bangs hide his face as he turned away. When he finally spoke, his voice was carefully dispassionate. “I will not deny my complicity with Twinrova’s decisions. Mere apologies will not right such wrongs, so I won’t waste my breath.”

 _“I’d still appreciate the effort,”_ Link answered, trying to keep his expression reasonable, despite that he couldn’t mask the hurt tone in his thoughts.

“Why?” Ghirahim retorted. “What sincerity is to be had in empty sentiments?”

_“Pretending there isn’t a problem anymore doesn’t make it go away.”_

Ghirahim scoffed. “Oh, like you’re one to _talk._ ”

Link pulled his hands into fists and clenched his jaw. _“Passivism isn’t the same as denial!”_

“I’m not denying that I’ve done wrong!” Ghirahim stepped away from the window to fully face the knight. “I just can’t be sorry. I was doing what I believe needed to be done.”

 _“To revive a genocidal warlord?”_ Link thought in scathing disbelief.

“Demise was not just a warlord!” Ghirahim shouted. “Your thrice-cursed Goddess sullied his name and damned him for all eternity!”

Link grimaced, cursing his telepathy. He stomped down the instinct to point out that the Demon Lord damned himself and instead signed, _“Then explain how he wasn’t a bad person so I can understand.”_

“Why should I if you won’t believe me regardless?”

_“Because I still want to try.”_

“Well, I don’t care,” Ghirahim answered, crossing his arms. “You think you’re so smart, wise child, but my life is not some book you can read at your leisure.”

Link made a frustrated noise. _“I know that, but I just…”_ He didn’t even know how to finish the thought. If Ghirahim wanted to keep acting belligerent and refuse to yield anything that could make him more sympathetic, Link didn’t want to keep fighting. He wondered blandly if this was how Zelda felt about him refusing to say anything about his father’s disability. If so, it made him feel more inclined to apologize.

Vaati watched their argument grow and fizzle out, unable to get a word in edgewise. Like Link, he didn’t know what could be said. Neither of them was wrong.

The Minish was still debating how to break the silence when he heard Zelda and Ganondorf come down the hall and unlock the door.

“We’re back,” Zelda announced as he and Ganondorf came inside. His pleasant mood fell as soon as he noticed the heavy atmosphere between their companions. Looking at Link, he asked, “Did something happen at the castle?”

Link shook his head and thought, _“Ghirahim’s just being a dick again.”_ He gave a frustrated sigh and then signed, _“We were talking about what to do. Impa says no one has been able to open any of the divine beasts.”_

“Oh.” Zelda glanced at Ghirahim, wondering if he heard the knight’s first thought, but the demon laying against the wall and appeared to be sullenly ignoring everyone. While Ganondorf went to his bag to take out his bedroll, Zelda faced Link again. “How was Ghirahim being a dick?”

Link cringed as Ghirahim made an aggravated sound, but made no other comment to express his displeasure. The knight signed, _“I didn’t really mean for you to hear that.”_ He patted the spot beside him on the bed. Once Zelda pulled off his boots and hopped up onto his knees to join him, Link continued reluctantly, _“I upset Ghirahim because I called Demise a warlord and brought up how he’s responsible for a lot of people dying.”_

“I see,” Zelda said quietly. He stole another glance at Ghirahim and saw the demon pointedly glaring at him. He guiltily shrunk back.

“If you two must talk about how much you despise me,” Ghirahim stated, “would you at least have the decency to do it when I am not present?”

“What? We weren’t saying anything like that,” Zelda answered, confused for a moment before he realized the demon must not have known sign language. “I just wanted to know what happened.”

“Nothing happened.” Ghirahim stepped away from the wall he was leaning against and headed for the door. “You have all made it quite clear I am not welcome, so I will take my leave.”

“Hey, wait,” Zelda started at the same time Ganondorf sat up on his knees, having finished spreading out his bedroll.

“Ghirahim, you don’t have to go anywhere,” Ganondorf said. “I just talked with Zelda about giving you another chance. I’m sure Link didn’t mean whatever he said to offend you.”

“Link’s mute, not dumb,” Ghirahim retorted. “Don’t speak for him.”

“I wasn’t—”

“Guys, stop this,” Vaati stated. He jumped down from the windowsill and switched to his Hylian form. “Ghirahim, you can leave if that is what you really want to do, but I would like you to stay. I’ve been through what you’re going through now. Our friends are just trying to understand.”

“I don’t care!” Ghirahim turned his back to everyone. “Your questions are lancets and you don’t care how deep they cut.”

“It’s not that we don’t care,” Ganondorf said. “I—”

“Ignorance is no excuse!”

Zelda scooted himself to the edge of the bed. “Well, what are we supposed to do then?” he demanded, becoming fed up with the demon’s tantrum. “You’re acting like the victim here when we have every right to stay mad at you. I want to forgive you, but you’ve barely begun giving us reasons to try.”

“What would ever be enough?” Ghirahim said. “I won’t spend the rest of your mortal lives begging for your pardon.”

“I don’t know,” Zelda admitted.

Ganondorf pulled off his shoes and pulled down the blanket for his bedroll. “Can we all just agree that none of this is easy and it’ll take time to get used to it?” he asked, tucking himself in. “It’s late and we’re all tired. We have a long day ahead of us to get up the Great Plateau, so let’s just figure this out in the morning, alright?”

Zelda and Link looked at each other. They shrugged, mutually agreeing that sounded fair.

Ghirahim continued to the door. “I’m going for a walk,” he said, still curt, though his tone lost its previous edge. “I will see you all in the morning.”

“Good night,” Vaati said as the demon left. He waited until the door closed behind him before he went to Ganondorf’s bag and made his nest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 8/25/2020 update - I wrote a bonus scene about Ghirahim's walk, which you can find here: <https://archiveofourown.org/works/26110582>. It has a glimpse of his past with Demise. ;)


	54. “Is that supposed to be the Temple of Time?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The past week was a blur -- I can't believe we're already almost halfway through August. I visited home last weekend to celebrate my mom's birthday, and it was thankfully not bad. We spoiled ourselves by shopping for some new clothes at one (1) fancy clothing store, Talbots, which has been my mom's favorite since my sis and I were little. It was kind of nerve-wracking being out in public, but all of the other customers were good about wearing masks and socially distancing, and the store was quaranting everything that people tried on/wiping down dressing rooms between each use.
> 
> (Personal venting now) It's nice weekends like this that make things with my mom that much harder. Literally, just her saying over the phone after I got back to my apartment how much she appreciated it kind of twisted my heart. Like, it's what I want, the acknowledgement of the time I give her is a gift, but then overthinking kicks in and remembering the not as nice comments (like her belief that there are fairies living in Utah??? I honestly do not know at this point if she actually believes that or if she's joking, like she does about Santa Claus, but I'm not about to argue with a pleasant delusion like that even if it makes me uncomfortable). It's a constant struggle between protecting myself and trying to help her, balancing the ways she can hurt me vs ways I hurt myself with guilt. Most days I think I do okay, but her health is only getting worse... 
> 
> (venting over) Anyway, this chapter is pretty straightforward. It didn't end up changing very much over the course of my revisions. It's not my favorite, but there are still a lot of things I do like. 
> 
> Also! I noticed we hit 275 kudos, so I'll post the bonus update tomorrow.

Early the next morning, the team left their horse and wagon behind in Gatepost Town and brought their supplies to the Great Plateau’s wall. It stood before them just as imposing as last night.

Ganondorf looked to Ghirahim. “Do you think you can teleport up there and anchor our ropes?”

Ghirahim tilted back his head, frowning at the overhang. He then faced his hand and summoned his shadow saber, but it appeared more like a hazy suggestion of his blade than its normal solid darkness. He let it dissipate and dropped his hand. His expression remained displeased.

“I’m guessing that’s a no?” Ganondorf said, worried by the obvious reduction in Ghirahim’s strength.

“It’s merely inadvisable for me to do so.” Ghirahim placed his fingers on his chest. “Zelda’s rapier was not forged or blessed to be a conduit for magic.” He shifted his weight to one foot and rested his hand on his hip. “I may break it completely if I overburden its durability.”

“In other words, that’s still a no, you can’t.” Ganondorf sighed. “You guys wait here.” He looked down at Vaati, who was sitting on his shoulder. “Do you think you can teleport them up?”

“Probably,” Vaati answered. “But I’m still recovering, and I would rather conserve the strength I’ve regained until we really need it.”

“Fair enough.” Ganondorf got out the climbing gear they packed. While he recoiled the rope and attached it to his belt, he asked Link and Zelda, “Either of you been climbing before?”

Link tipped his hand side to side, thinking, _“Sort of?”_

Zelda smiled uneasily. “Does rappelling from my window count?”

Ganondorf considered it, then shrugged. “Sure. Ghirahim, be my spotter.”

“Of course, Ganny.” Ghirahim walked behind Ganondorf as he found handholds on some of the wall’s less-damaged architecture.

It didn’t take long for Ganondorf to climb up to the Great Plateau and attach anchors for a belay line. As soon as he pulled himself over the top, he rested on his knees to catch his breath. Before him was an ancient shrine and several little ponds. Past them were the remains of a large, stone building and a Sheikah Tower. Near a wooded area were a few bokoblins roasting a boar, but they hadn’t noticed him.

Ganondorf turned back to the edge of the wall and wrapped their rope around a nearby tree so he could belay it. Leaning over the cliff with one hand on the rope, he called, “You can come up now.”

Link gave Ganondorf a thumb’s up and walked up to the rope first. The knight and Zelda had put on harnesses while Ganondorf climbed up, and Ghirahim made sure they both tied the figure eight knot correctly. When they were both at the top, Ghirahim ascended without bothering with a harness and removed Ganondorf’s anchors.

“All right,” Zelda said once Ghirahim rejoined them. He passed his climbing gear to Link so he could put it back into the Sheikah slate’s storage. “Which way is it to the Shrine of Resurrection?”

 _“Let me look,”_ Link thought as he swiped to the Sheikah slate’s map. After dragging around the map for a moment, he put it back away and pointed towards a damaged, cathedral-like building far up a hill. _“Easiest is that way.”_

“Huh.” Zelda held his hand over his eyes to block the sun as he looked at the ruins. “Is that supposed to be the Temple of Time?”

“Yes,” Ghirahim said before Link could answer. “It looks even worse than it did the last time I was here.” He glanced at Ganondorf. “Do you remember it?”

“Me?” Ganondorf looked confused at the demon before he turned back towards the ruins. He had no recollection of its tall, rosary windows or the features carved into its stonework. “Why would I?”

“This is where we sent you into the Sacred Realm,” Ghirahim answered.

Ganondorf’s eyes widened. Zelda gaped at Ghirahim and said, “Excuse me, what?”

“I fit in the master sword’s pedestal, so I was the key his mothers used to open the Door of Time.” Ghirahim shrugged. “We hoped he would get the whole Triforce, but we were willing to settle for one piece. As long as we had one, we knew the others would reappear in this world too.”

Zelda continued staring at Ghirahim, dumbfounded, before he managed, “Link and I only ended up with our Triforce pieces because you made Ganondorf steal his?”

“‘Steal’ is a strong word for an artifact left for the taking,” Ghirahim answered. “It belongs to all you mortals.”

“So?” Zelda retorted. “It’s not supposed to be used for evil!”

Ghirahim scoffed, waving away Zelda’s indignation. “Our plans were hardly evil. The twins just wanted some petty revenge, and I wanted my master back.”

Ganondorf leveled a cynical look at the demon. “You let my mothers stab me when I came out.”

“That was their idea,” Ghirahim answered. “If they told me that was their plan, I would have stopped them.” When Ganondorf continued to look skeptical, he continued, “Why would I have wanted to release the Dark Beast? That form has nothing to do with Demise.”

“It doesn’t?”

“No.” Ghirahim dramatically rolled his eyes, as if the fact was obvious. “Ganon is merely a corruption caused by the Triforce of Power. Every time Demise’s reincarnations were reduced to that state, they lost their sentience and were promptly slain.”

Ganondorf frowned, pondering this revelation, while Zelda looked slightly horrified. “Are you saying _I_ could turn into a giant pig monster?” he asked, pointing at himself.

Ghirahim looked sidelong at the royal heir. He appraised him with a dubious look before averting his gaze. “You don’t strike me as a boar, but I suppose it’s possible.”

His statement did little to reassure Zelda. Link pat his shoulder and signed, _“You’re not a monster.”_ The knight started going ahead, though he walked backwards a few paces so they could still see his hands. _“Come on. I want to pray at the Goddess statue before we go to the Shrine of Resurrection.”_

“Why?” Zelda asked, following him. Ganondorf and Ghirahim continued after them. “Do you think Hylia or the Three will really help us with some divine intervention?”

Link shrugged. _“Maybe. Ghirahim keeps saying your rapier isn’t good because it isn’t blessed, so I want to ask.”_

Zelda faltered. “You think they’d give _him_ their blessing?” He realized after he spoke how insulting that sounded, so he hastily amended, “I mean, why would they bless my weapon? It’s not special like the master sword.”

Ghirahim let the snub slide with a roll of his eyes. “The princess is right. To become even worthy of Hylia’s blessing, the master sword needed to be bathed in the Goddesses’ sacred flames.”

_“Don’t discount yourselves before we even try. Have faith and allow them to decide our worthiness. It helps no one to assume any poor outcome is certain.”_

“If you say so,” Zelda said, though he wondered if they really had the time to spare. But then again, he wasn’t entirely opposed to putting off their meeting with Twinrova for a little while longer. As soon as they were done at the Shrine of Resurrection, there would be nothing left to do but press on to the Gerudo Tower.

It was a long walk up the hill and dilapidated stairs leading to the remains of the Temple of Time. They crossed paths with a few bokoblins and strange, barrel-shaped worms Vaati said were called like-likes, but they were hardly more than a nuisance. In the lower area of the ruins were monstrous knights Vaati identified as darknuts. They avoided all of them except for the one they found within the Goddess statue’s hall, but Ganondorf quickly dispatched it.

When they walked to the stairs leading to the Goddess statue, Link gestured for Zelda and Ghirahim to move in front. _“Zelda, you should be the one to ask.”_

“Why me?”

Ghirahim took Zelda’s hand. The royal heir reflexively tried to pull his hand back, but Ghirahim used his other hand to close his fingers around his. “It’s your weapon,” he said before disappearing into his rapier.

“Uh, hey!” Zelda nearly dropped his rapier as Ghirahim’s hand transformed into its handle. He scowled at its hilt.

 _“Enough with that face,”_ Ghirahim said in Zelda’s mind. _“Whether we like it or not, I_ am _your weapon now. You cannot fight the twins with only your magic.”_

Zelda felt like retorting that he could certainly try anyway, but held his tongue. He turned his attention to the six little statues surrounding the imposing Goddess statue. Briefly he wondered what they were supposed to represent. There were too many to be the Golden Goddesses, and too small compared to Hylia’s image anyway.

 _“They were probably meant to represent the Six Sages,”_ Ghirahim stated, startling Zelda.

“Were you just reading my mind?”

 _“Not precisely. Whatever words or specific thoughts you had in your mind remain yours alone, but this form sharpens my nonphysical senses.”_ Ghirahim picked up on Zelda’s grudging curiosity, so he continued with a smirk in his tone. _“Mortals typically can only perceive things on the plane of physical existence. Some have a divine touch and can learn to wield magic or see spirits like Koroks. I am a divine being, so you cannot comprehend all that I can perceive.”_

“Kit?” Ganondorf said, reminding Zelda with a start that his companions were still behind him. “If Ghirahim’s boasting about his demon senses, don’t let it impress you. He’s only reading you so easily because your face is an open book.”

“No it isn’t!” Zelda protested even as he blushed. Ghirahim laughed. He shot a glare at his rapier.

“Sure,” Ganondorf said, humoring Zelda despite that he proved his point. “If you’re going to ask for Hylia’s blessing, can you do it already so we can get going?”

Link huffed in exasperation and thought, _“None of you have any respect for the Goddesses.”_

Zelda shrugged. “It’s hard to be reverent when I was supposed to be Hylia’s mortal incarnation, so…”

 _“And that is why you ended up with Power instead of Wisdom,”_ Link signed.

Zelda stuck out his tongue at the knight. With a sigh, he turned back to the Goddess statue. He felt ridiculous and awkward now, as he had no idea what to say without sounding fake. All of their juvenile preamble only made their hope seem more pointless.

 _“If it helps,”_ Ghirahim said quietly, _“don’t think that you’re asking this for me. Ask for your friends or for Hyrule. I’m yours to protect them.”_

The hesitant assurance was simultaneously touching and unsettling to Zelda, making him stiffen with surprise. It showed a side of the demon he hadn’t seen before. He lowered his head and took a deep breath. As he exhaled, he said, “Okay.”

When Zelda lifted his face again to the Goddess statue, he rolled back his shoulders and held his rapier’s handle with both hands, tip pointed up. “Hylia? I don’t know if you’re listening. But if you are and you’ve been watching us down here, I know you have to care about what’s happening. You might think the master sword is enough to stop Gan’s mothers. But I want to fight with Gan. We don’t want him to have to face them alone. So please, let us be able to help him.”

Zelda waited to receive some sort of sign, remaining still. After a minute, Ghirahim said, _“Well, thank you for trying.”_ He transformed back into his Hylian form. “Let’s be on our way now.” He leapt off the Goddess statue’s platform into the grass by a ruined wall. “Perhaps ancient technology will be more forgiving,” he said, overly flippant as he skipped out of the temple.

Ganondorf sighed, sharing his disappointment. “Just don’t run too far ahead.” He glanced back at Zelda and Link and then at Vaati on his shoulder. None of them were surprised, but it still seemed unfair that they didn’t get a response of any kind. All he could assume was that they already had all the help the Goddesses could offer.


	55. “The problem is in the shrines.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little late, but here is the bonus kudo update! Thank you everyone who's liked and/or commented so far! It seriously makes my day whenever I get feedback from you. Even though I can be slow to respond, please know I really do love and appreciate that you're here.

After clearing out a bokoblin camp and cutting down several carnivorous deku baba plants on their way, Ganondorf and his team arrived at the Shrine of Resurrection. The entrance was harder to find than he expected, as it was tucked into a cliff, but the tunnel leading down to the Sheikah slate’s pedestal was plenty familiar. The black, ceramic-like floor and walls were exactly like Ghirahim’s sparring room and his mothers’ arena.

The first terminal they came across was unresponsive, and they realized its purpose was just to open the doorway out of the shrine. When they passed the remains of broken barrels and crates, they came into a concave room. An elevated, shallow bath stood in its center. To their left was a strange, pitchfork weapon with shide streamers. The Sheikah slate’s pedestal was on their right.

Link unhooked the Sheikah slate. _“Should I try putting it in?”_ he asked Zelda, glancing at the others too for their approval.

“How should I know?” Zelda said. “Gan and Vaati are the ancient tech experts here.” He then looked towards Ghirahim. “Unless you know anything?”

Ghirahim held up his hands and took a step back. “The twins’ science never interested me.”

Zelda looked baffled. “Why?”

Ghirahim merely shrugged again, saying that he preferred not to know how everything worked. Ganondorf walked up to the pedestal. While Zelda kept trying to get a better explanation out of Ghirahim, the Gerudo faced Link and told him, “Go ahead and put it in.”

Link nodded and snapped the Sheikah slate into its base. _“I hope this works,”_ he thought. It chimed in response and spun the slate into the terminal. It glowed, blinking twice, before it released the slate back to its upright position.

Link picked it up and opened up the map. The shrines were still marked with orange centers. _“Now what?”_ he asked, looking up at Ganondorf and Vaati. Zelda and Ghirahim continued bickering behind them.

“I’ll take a look at it,” Vaati said. He hopped off Ganondorf’s shoulder and slid down his cloak. After he landed in his Hylian form, he faced the pedestal and put his hands on the edge. He stood on the tips of his toes to reach for the Sheikah slate and reinsert it. As it spun and the terminal scanned it again, he closed his eyes and kept his fingers on the curved, glowing lines. When it blinked twice, he swiped a finger along one line and tapped a dot at the end. It beeped and chimed with its alien sounds while Vaati continued tapping and swiping at the terminal.

After a minute, Vaati did a double-take without opening his eyes. “Oh! So _that’s_ the problem.”

“Does that mean you can fix it?” Ganondorf asked. Vaati’s exclamation caught Zelda and Ghirahim’s attention, so they stopped arguing about the demon’s interests and listened for Vaati’s response.

“I’m not sure yet, but nothing is wrong with the Sheikah slate,” Vaati answered. “The problem is in the shrines.”

 _“Like the divine beasts?”_ Link asked.

“I think so.” Vaati continued swiping along the terminal’s glowing lines, reading through whatever was being displayed in his mind’s eye. “According to this terminal’s log, someone tried to get unauthorized access into one of the shrines twenty-six years ago.”

“When my great-grandfather died?” Zelda said, perplexed.

Ganondorf frowned. “That’s also when my mothers started poking around ancient ruins.”

“Exactly,” Vaati stated. “The castle assumed the closing of the shrines was due to his passing, but this suggests that it was actually caused by Twinrova. Their meddling triggered a series of high-level security protocols that locked them out and everyone else.”

_“How are you able to read the terminal at all then?”_

“To put it simply, the Sheikah slate works like a master key. The terminal knows the owner of the slate has special privileges, so it allows whoever has it to access the shrines and receive information from the shrine towers.”

Zelda looked more confused by Vaati’s explanation. “Then how come Sheikah researchers haven’t been able to get into the shrines with the slate?”

“There are a few reasons, but I suspect it’s mainly due to a language barrier. Under normal circumstances, the slate and the terminal are supposed to communicate with each other and activate preprogrammed commands. Zelda’s great-grandfather didn’t need to stand at each terminal as I am and tell the shrines what he wanted to do. The Sheikah monks who originally designed them automated the process so a simple tap would do everything he needed when the time came.

“When we plugged the slate into the terminal just now,” Vaati continued, “it attempted to activate an elevator sequence that would take us down to the dungeon beneath us. However, since the security protocols are currently forbidding all entry into dungeon areas, it defaulted to its original preprogrammed response, which is to make the slate available to the Hero to begin his journey. I terminated that program before it could complete itself so I could keep the slate in the terminal and retain access to its system.”

“So, how is that a language barrier?” Zelda asked, annoyed by how little he understood. He thought he knew all of the words Vaati was using, but he was having trouble wrapping his head around how non-sentient objects could talk to each other.

“Well, everything I’m reading right now is in a special form of Ancient Hylian. The language we’re speaking now is hardly anything like what I spoke in my own time, and the writing system has completely changed. My guess is that Sheikah researchers and historians have only been able translate small sections and have made educated guesses for the gaps in their knowledge. Twinrova were able to fill those gaps.”

“Technically it was me who filled them,” Ghirahim said. “In turn they taught me modern Hylian and Gerudo.”

Zelda scowled at the demon. “So it’s your fault they became ancient tech experts.”

“In a roundabout way.” Ghirahim shrugged. “I couldn’t have foreseen that they would learn so much.”

“As interesting as this is,” Ganondorf said, “how does this help us make the Sheikah slate able to teleport us again? Can you turn off the security protocols?”

“I think I can here, but the severity of the breach leads me to believe that I will have to visit each shrine individually to give them the all-clear response.”

 _“It’s like Zelda’s great-grandfather never visited the shrines at all,”_ Link thought, mulling over the revelation. They had more on the slate than his predecessor started with, but it had still undone a lot of his work.

Zelda groaned. “So we basically wasted our time coming here.”

“Not entirely,” Vaati said. “The shrine at the castle doesn’t have a port to plug in the slate. If we didn’t come here, we would have needed to visit one of the towers to learn what happened.”

“They may not work either, actually,” Ghirahim said. “Given what the twins have done to Gerudo Tower, it is probably best to steer clear of them.”

Ganondorf narrowed his eyes at him. “What do you mean?”

“The entire tower glows pink with Malice.”

Zelda looked shocked before he pulled his hands into fists. “That would have been nice to know!” he snapped. “Why didn’t you say so sooner?”

“Kit, we talked about this,” Ganondorf said. Zelda crossed his arms, but looked admonished. To Ghirahim, Ganondorf asked, “When did they take control of Gerudo Tower?”

“The night they bested me. I believe infusing the tower with Malice is what caused the second blood moon.”

“Do you know why they would take over the tower like that?”

“No.” Ghirahim held up his hands with an expression of disinterest. “As I keep reiterating, the twins do not tell me all of their plans. They share only what they deem necessary. Anything else I learn, I gleam through eavesdropping.”

The response was less than helpful. Ganondorf turned to the Minish. “Vaati, you have any ideas?”

“Not presently,” Vaati answered. “Let me finish my work here.”

“Okay.” Ganondorf waited while Vaati continued working at the terminal. When the teleportation medallion on the floor in the hallway lit up, Zelda cheered and Ganondorf grinned.

Vaati removed his hands from the terminal and detached the Sheikah slate. Passing it back to Link, he said, “As I suspected, I can’t fix the overall lockdown issue, but we should be able to return here anytime now.”

Link hooked the Sheikah slate back onto his belt. _“All we need now is for you to leave a sigil of your own.”_

“Right.” Vaati stepped away from the terminal and went to the hallway.

As Vaati began chipping away at the wall to leave his sigil, Zelda looked up at Ganondorf. “I guess when he’s done, we should go straight to Gerudo Tower?”

Ganondorf sighed. “Probably. There isn’t anything left for us to do here.” He glanced down the hallway. His expression was filled with hesitation and worry.

Zelda took Ganondorf’s hand, though he was really only able to hold his fingers in his own, slender grip. “It’ll be okay.” He felt just as unwilling to meet Ganondorf’s mothers, but it was easier to be brave when he wasn’t the only one who needed to be. “Who knows? Maybe they’ll be willing to actually talk to us.”

Ganondorf smiled humorlessly. “I haven’t had a pleasant conversation with my mothers in a long time.”

Ghirahim smirked, sharing his wry humor. “They weren’t exactly open to discussion the last time I spoke with them either.” He shifted his weight to one foot and held up his hand. “Really, the princess’ idea to poison them may be best. We can harvest some from the deku baba plants and the Minish can slip it into their next meal.”

“No.” Ganondorf shook his head, repulsed by the thought. “We’re not going to just outright murder them.”

“Better them than you,” Ghirahim said. “Or any of your companions. You’re expendable to them now. If our negotiations fail and they collect all of your Triforce pieces, the kingdom will fall.”

“We won’t let that happen.” Ganondorf refused to believe his mothers were so far gone that they would throw him away without a second thought.

Ghirahim raised an eyebrow. “Infinite second chances don’t work if you lose the boon granting those chances.”

“I’m not going to lose my Triforce,” Ganondorf retorted.

Link stepped in between Ganondorf and Ghirahim. Facing the Gerudo, though he conveyed his thoughts to all of them, he said, _“It’s not likely we’ll talk your mothers out of their plans, so we’ll have to either incapacitate them or their technology. I don’t think we can destroy their divine beast. That means we have to be able to overpower them somehow.”_

Turning to Ghirahim, Link said, _“Tell us honestly – how do you see a head-on fight going?”_

“Assuming the princess has me in his hands and the Minish stays out of the way, we would be outmatched the moment the twins are able to summon their guardians and Malice monsters. The battle would be determined by the location and their minions, not our skills or weapons.”

_“Do you think we can meet them somewhere besides Gerudo Tower?”_

“I haven’t seen them return to their rooms since they began work on their abomination, so no. I doubt we can lure them out of their den.”

Vaati came back out of the hallway. “We don’t need to kill them or fight them directly. We’re forgetting I know dark magic. If I can petrify both of them, we can move them to a safer location and lift the curse with the master sword.”

“Oh!” Zelda exclaimed. “You’re a genius!”

Vaati smiled thinly, which was an expression that seemed almost sinister on his juvenile face. “It’s hardly genius if my knowledge came from a magic cap.”

“Who cares?” Zelda said, waving away the comment. “It’s still a good plan. Can you teleport us there now?”

“If you mean Gerudo Tower, no,” Vaati answered. “The closest we can get is Ganondorf’s bedroom, but I don’t think it would be a good idea to appear in the middle of the Yiga’s hideout.”

“Right.” Zelda frowned at just at the thought of trying to sneak past a whole army of magic ninjas.

 _“We should have lunch here and get back our horse and wagon_ ,” Link said. _“We can continue through the Canyon Pass and camp on the road.”_

“If we make good time, we might even be able to get through the Great Cliffs and meet them tomorrow,” Ganondorf said. His brows lowered as he then reconsidered that thought. “Let’s just hope it’ll be that simple.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was such a doozy to write... ^^; I am not a programmer/coder or computer-literate at all, so a good chunk of Vaati explaining everything had to be rewritten after I had one of my tech-savvy friends read it and offer advice. Still not sure if it all came across as plausible/understandable, but oh well.


	56. “Normal’s hard for people like us.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter happened solely because my sis mentioned that Gan and Link haven't had a chance to talk one on one, and I knew I needed to fix that because both boys deserve it.
> 
> Also, I forgot to link this forever ago, but my sis drew fanart of all the boys together! Check it out on my Twitter [here](https://twitter.com/DarkAcey/status/1278376781146476544).

The quintet set up their cooking pot on the cliff outside of the Shrine of Resurrection. A steady breeze blew to the east while Link made gourmet poultry pilaf. Ghirahim sat on the edge of the cliff, letting his legs dangle off the overhang. Zelda wandered around the area, climbing one of many boulders to admire the view of the castle, Death Mountain, and the rest of his kingdom. Vaati was nestled in the folds of Ganondorf’s cloak, and the Gerudo was seated beside Link while they talked about lunch and cooking in general.

After Link explained the recipe for his infamous honey candy, Ganondorf found himself asking, “How’d you figure out you like cooking if you were raised to be a knight?”

 _“When Zelda and I got in trouble, I usually ended up working in the kitchens as punishment,”_ Link signed after he gave their rice pilaf a stir and covered it with a lid. _“I didn’t mind cleaning the pots and pans, but the cook saw my interest in her work and let me help her instead. I ended up getting permission to keep it in my regular schedule.”_

Ganondorf smiled at the image of an even smaller Link being taught how to sauté vegetables and boil rice. He wondered if the knight had needed to use a footstool to reach the counter. He decided against asking because he didn’t know Link well enough yet to know if he was self-conscious about his height.

 _“What about you?”_ Link asked. _“Your curry yesterday was really good.”_

“Thanks.” Ganondorf sat back on his hands and watched the fire for a moment. “I got interested in cooking mostly because I got sick of having Nab or the Yiga making all of my meals.”

Link tilted his head. _“Why?”_

“Well, it was one of the ways I could distance myself from the idea of me being some evil king,” Ganondorf answered. “Rulers don’t cook for themselves, so doing stuff like that and my own laundry, you know – it helped make me feel more normal.”

Pensive, Link nodded. _“Normal’s hard for people like us.”_

“Yeah.” Ganondorf breathed a laugh. “But you have a nice family at least.”

Link nodded again. _“Yeah, but I never get to see them,”_ he thought bitterly. He glanced up at Ganondorf, who looked at him with sympathy. Link’s eyes widened. _“Shit.”_ Scowling, Link faced the ground and signed, _“Sorry.”_

“For what?” Ganondorf’s eyebrows knotted together.

 _“Complaining,”_ Link answered, hitting his chest with the word harder than necessary. _“You shouldn’t have to deal with my problems. We can talk about something else.”_

Ganondorf stared at Link for a moment, baffled. “Why? It doesn’t bother me. Why would you think that?”

Link bit his lip and didn’t look up. _“Knights don’t complain.”_

“I call bullshit,” Ganondorf said, bending forward with his elbows on his knees to be closer to eye-level with Link. “If something’s bothering you, you have the right to talk about it. Fuck whoever told you otherwise.”

 _“You can’t tell the king to fuck off,”_ Link thought. He immediately grimaced and signed, _“Don’t tell Zelda.”_

“What?” Ganondorf gaped at Link, but the knight didn’t speak again. He glanced over at Zelda. The royal heir was currently swinging a stick at an overgrown bush, pretending it was a sword and sparring dummy. By the state of his half-broken stick and the bush appearing no worse for wear, it seemed the bush was winning.

Vaati poked his head out of the folds of the Gerudo’s cloak, confused by the turn in the conversation since he hadn’t heard Link’s thoughts. “What are we talking about?” he whispered in Ganondorf’s ear.

Ganondorf waved off Vaati with a look that said _not now_. He turned back to Link and studied the knight for another moment before he let out a heavy sigh and pushed his fingers through his hair. In a low voice, he said, “The king actually said that? That you’re not allowed to complain?”

Vaati sat bolt upright, but remained silent and watched Link.

Link gripped his fingers. _“I mean, sort of, but I probably could have if I really wanted. I just can’t because I was supposed to be the Hero, and he never ran from his duty.”_

“Zelda’s great-grandfather dicked around for a hundred years.”

_“That’s beside the point. Everybody expects so much out of me, was so proud to have me in the castle, to have a man of the people able to temper the throne again. If I didn’t accept everything, there wasn’t going to be any hope for everyone else. If I didn’t like living in the castle, didn’t have a purpose, leaving my family would have been for nothing.”_

Ganondorf pinched between his eyes and glanced at Vaati with a questioning look, silently asking if he heard any of that since Link still wasn’t signing. The knight had curled in on himself and was staring hard at the ground.

Vaati answered quietly, “You’re either going to need to repeat him and bring me into this conversation or try to keep helping him on your own.”

“I don’t know if I can,” Ganondorf said under his breath. He wanted Vaati’s help, but he was worried Link would clam up further if he asked the knight to repeat what he unwillingly shared. Repeating it for him felt like it would be some sort of betrayal of trust.

“You’re better at this than you give yourself credit for. Just trust your heart.”

Ganondorf wasn’t sure if he believed Vaati, but he couldn’t let his silence drag on longer. Their lunch would be ready soon. If Zelda returned before he responded, Ganondorf felt certain Link would never give him another chance to talk. He bent forward and faced Link again.

“Hey, Link.” Ganondorf watched the knight for a reaction, but he remained hunched over as if he hadn’t heard him. “You don’t need to beat yourself up. Your happiness matters too, okay? You can’t keep silencing yourself just because you think it will bother other people.”

 _“But I don’t know how to talk like everybody else!”_ Link gripped his legs.

“I don’t mean talking verbally.”

 _“I don’t mean that either!”_ Link turned his head and glanced at Ganondorf, but meeting his eyes only made him wince and duck his head again. _“Sharing stuff like this, all of it, I don’t even know how much you can hear over all these half-thoughts in my head. I feel like a bad person if I want anything for myself, like I’m stupid and needy and just pathetic when I was supposed to be the brave one.”_

“Link…” Ganondorf struggled for a moment to put words together. “You’re not stupid or pathetic or needy to want what you want. You have Wisdom, for _Éshi’s_ sake.”

_“That doesn’t mean I’m smart, just like it doesn’t mean you’re automatically brave or that Zelda has any power to change all the things he wants to change.”_

“Yeah, because none of that is stuff you get automatically. You have to work for it, and friends can help you if you let them.”

 _“But I don’t think anyone_ wants _to help me.”_ Link pulled up his knees and hugged them against his chest.

“Then let me be the first to make this very clear.” Ganondorf shifted to better face Link. “I want to help, and there isn’t a damn thing that will change that. You and Kit are the first real friends I’ve ever made on my own. If for some unfathomable reason I ever decide I can’t help, I’ll say so. You’re not a burden and your thoughts don’t bother me. Okay?”

Link hesitantly looked up at Ganondorf. _“I feel like you’re just saying that.”_

“I’m really not,” Ganondorf said. “I mean it. And even if you can’t believe me right now because of whatever bullshit training made you think this stuff, I’ll just keep saying it until it sticks.”

_“Why? I don’t get it – you barely know me.”_

“I don’t have to know everything about you to see you’re a good person. Maybe you feel like you didn’t have a choice when you joined us, but you’re still here and a part of our party. I wouldn’t have this any other way.”

Link gave a tight sigh. He lifted his hand to sign, _“Okay. Thank you.”_ He glanced at their cooking pot and lifted up the lid on the rice pilaf. As steam wafted out, he gave it a stir to fluff it up. _“We’re burning lunch. Get Ghirahim and Zelda over here.”_

“All right.” Ganondorf sat up and turned at his hip to call over Zelda. Before he opened his mouth, he noticed that while he had been talking to Link, Ghirahim apparently got up to lecture the royal heir about the poor form he was using with his stick-sword. The demon had summoned the wisp of his own shadow saber to demonstrate better stabbing techniques on the now thoroughly-beaten bush. Zelda was mirroring Ghirahim’s moves with rapt attention, and the demon was being thoroughly smug about it.

Ganondorf grinned and elbowed Link to make him look. The knight turned, confused. His eyebrows rose before he slipped into a smile.

 _“Of course they bond over swordplay,”_ Link thought with a laugh. It was so like Zelda to solve his problems by beating up something else. Now the royal heir finally had someone who actually seemed to enjoy the exercise just as much as he did.

Both Zelda and Ghirahim heard Link’s thought. While the demon gave them a peeved look, the royal heir put his hand on his hip and said, “We can go back to fighting if you’d rather.”

 _“No,”_ Link signed, _“I like this better.”_

Ganondorf waved for them to come to the cooking pot. “As nice as it is to see you getting along, lunch is ready.”

Zelda pouted, annoyed to cut Ghirahim’s lesson short, but he couldn’t deny that he was hungry. “Fine,” he said, tossing aside his worn-out stick. Ghirahim cast his saber to smoke and followed him to the campfire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I came really close to making this chapter be a discussion involving Fi instead of Link's insecurities, but ultimately I decided against it because Link is too awkward to ask Gan if he can talk to his sword (lol), and Fi isn't going to speak unprompted unless absolutely necessary. There are plenty of moments where I imagine she has thoughts about what's going on, but the kids almost always sort out things without her intervention just fine.
> 
> I also considered writing an extra scene just from Kit and Ghirahim's points of view in this chapter, but I couldn't figure out what to have them talk about besides just technical swordfighting stuff.


	57. “I don’t want to be the reason our plans go to Twilight.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you who have read [A Side Quest in Mabe Village (Alternate chapter 44)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24958432), small parts of this chapter may be familiar. I recycled part of its general idea to make this chapter happen. 
> 
> Also! I just finished a new bonus fic for [this story's series of extra content](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1806355). If you've been binge-reading, you've probably already seen it linked on chapter 53; if you skipped it then or you've been keeping up with updates (THANK YOU), check it out here: ["Always so eager to please." (Chapter 53.5)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26110582). It's about Ghirahim and his backstory with Demise.

Returning to Gatepost Town and collecting their horse was a short affair. The road to the Canyon Pass was also well-traveled and their horse well-rested, so they made good time getting to the Digdogg Suspension Bridge. As they crossed the wooden bridges stretched between the towering islands over Regencia River, however, Link pulled their wagon to an abrupt halt.

A blue hinox was sleeping in the middle of the road. It was on the largest of the towering islands in the river, and only a short bridge separated them. Its gurgling snoring echoed between the river’s great cliffs.

 _“Guys, we have a problem,”_ Link turned around to sign, pointing at the giant monster.

While Ghirahim looked amused and Ganondorf frowned as if this was just a mild inconvenience, Zelda sat up and grabbed the edge of the wagon. “Holy Farore. That thing is _huge._ ”

Vaati narrowed his eyes at the hinox, considering their options. “I don’t suppose we can sneak past it?” There was enough space to drive their wagon into the grass to go around it, but it was a narrow margin between the monster and the sheer drop into the river.

 _“If it wakes up, it could kill our horse,”_ Link signed.

“It could kill us!” Zelda answered, baffled that the knight would worry more over their horse than their own wellbeing. If anything, they should have been more concerned about how many travelers had been forced to turn around or be killed by such a giant.

Ganondorf pushed himself up onto his knees and climbed out over the side of the wagon, making it rock briefly with his weight. “It’s not going to kill anyone.” He unsheathed the master sword and one of his twin blades.

Ghirahim grinned. “Oh, this will be _fun_.” He jumped up from his perch on the back of the wagon and hopped off. With a wave of his fingers, he opened up the back latch and held out his hand to help Zelda down. “Shall we, Princess?”

Zelda shot a glare at the demon. “Do you have to keep calling me that?” he said, pointedly ignoring his hand as he climbed off the wagon.

“It is still your proper title, is it not?” Ghirahim smirked.

“Doesn’t mean I have to like it.” Zelda looked back at the hinox. “How are we supposed to fight this thing?”

Ganondorf glanced at his companions. “Well, my plan was to sneak up on it and try to slit its throat before it wakes up.”

 _“Before it wakes?”_ Link thought, guilty just at the notion. His pragmatism knew it was the safest option, but his principles were rejecting the idea.

The knight’s reservations amused Ghirahim. “Would you like to ask it to kindly step aside so we can pass?”

Link frowned, but signed, _“Is that actually possible?”_

Ghirahim merely laughed.

“Monsters don’t speak Hylian,” Ganondorf said. “Our wagon is going to be too loud to sneak past, so our only options are to leave it behind or fight.”

Zelda scowled at them. “We can’t leave our wagon or this monster. This road is the only way in or out of the desert, and I’m not about to let it stop us or any of my citizens from crossing here.”

“Then I guess we’re in agreement,” Ganondorf said, glancing at Vaati and Link to make sure it was okay.

The Minish nodded. Link sighed and signed okay, but thought, _“I don’t like it.”_

“All right. So, I’ll try to kill it quickly. If that doesn’t work, Link’s a good shot and Kit has fireballs, so you both can back me up from afar.” Ganondorf moved Vaati from his shoulder and set him down on the wagon’s coach seat. “You and Ghirahim can stay here with the horse.”

“Excuse me?” Ghirahim’s positive mood vanished with a scowl. “You expect me to sit idly by?”

“I mean…” Ganondorf started, leaving the rest of his words unsaid.

Zelda shrugged as if the answer was obvious. Link lifted his eyebrows and looked away. _“You did yesterday with the bokoblins,”_ he thought.

“Are you even still able to fight?” Ganondorf asked. He couldn’t ignore the fact that Ghirahim was barely able to summon even a wisp of his shadow saber. If his existence in Hyrule depended on Zelda’s rapier not breaking, it seemed needlessly reckless to join this battle.

“I am not an invalid!” Ghirahim retorted, stomping his foot. “I won’t have you coddling me over a simple beast.”

“How do you expect to help?” Ganondorf held out the master sword towards the hinox. “That thing can crush any of us with a single step. You can’t summon any of your weapons, and I don’t think hardening your fists will be much help.”

Ghirahim glared at Ganondorf, but could not deny the rebuttal. Instead he growled and rounded on Link. “Give me a bow and arrows.” The knight looked startled, but picked up the Sheikah slate to oblige. As he got out a royal bow for himself and a swallow bow for Ghirahim, the demon faced the Gerudo once more. “I will _not_ be made useless.”

Ganondorf stared at Ghirahim for a moment, debating arguing further, but decided to be glad that the demon had conceded at least this much. “Okay. Let’s go.”

Leaving behind Vaati on the wagon with the horse, Ganondorf and the rest of his companions crept across the rickety bridge. Zelda, Ghirahim, and Link spread out around the hinox, mindful of the sharp drop into the river. The knight took cover behind one of the taller boulders on the island pillar. The demon and the royal heir didn’t bother to hide, as stubby bushes were all that was left to crouch behind. The hinox’s snoring continued as the Gerudo neared its thick, nearly nonexistent neck. Its head was as big as a hogshead barrel, its rotund waist larger than some houses. He angled his blades at the point where he assumed its pulse was hiding under its thick blue hide.

The moment after he stabbed the giant, its single, yellow eye snapped open. It slammed its hands onto the ground and threw itself onto its feet. His companions opened fire. Ganondorf ran around to hack at the back of its uncovered leg, as the other one was wrapped in tree bark. The hinox growled at them, more annoyed than hurt by the peppering of arrows and the scratching of the Gerudo’s blades. It lumbered around, trying to face the foe nipping at its heels, but the Gerudo evaded each swipe of its massive hands.

Link got the first shot to its eye. The hinox roared and fell onto its backside, nearly knocking Ganondorf off the island. He caught himself and ran back to the monster to hack at its waist, cutting red lines everywhere he could.

After the hinox swept out the arrow in its eye, it wised up and covered its face with one of its hands. It used its other hand to pick up one of the boulders and fling it blindly towards Link, but it greatly overshot its throw. The boulder soared over its island, the bridge, and careened down towards the horse and wagon.

Vaati yelped, a sound closer to a frantic squeak, and leapt off the wagon. The boulder crashed, crushing the back and snapping its rear axle in half. The horse reared back and panicked. She couldn’t turn around, still hitched to the half-broken wagon, but she did drag it several feet towards the edge of the island in her attempt to flee. Vaati scrambled to his feet and switched to his Hylian form. He grabbed one of the lead lines to her collar and shushed her in Minish, telling her to calm down before she could run off a hundred-foot drop into the river.

“Fucking shitballs!” Ganondorf stabbed his blades deep into the hinox’s calf to bring its attention back to him. It bellowed in pain and swiped at the Gerudo. He yanked back out his blades, but couldn’t dodge in time. The hinox’s hand hit hard and swept him off the island. Ganondorf flailed through the air before landing with a splash.

“Gan!” Zelda took a step as if he could rescue him.

“Leave him!” Ghirahim shouted. “Don’t stop firing!”

Zelda swore under his breath and lifted back up his hand. His Triforce warmed on his skin. He channeled his anger into his fireballs, growing their flames and throwing them harder. Without Ganondorf in the way, he didn’t need to worry about accidentally burning anything but grass and the hinox.

The hotter blasts drew the hinox’s rage. It lumbered toward Zelda, blocking his fireballs with his hands. The royal hair tried to throw them faster. The hinox did not slow down.

Ghirahim cursed in Ancient Hylian. The monster was going to either crush Zelda or throw him off like Ganondorf if nothing redirected its path, and there was no way he would be able to draw away its aggression with just a meager bow and arrows. He slung his bow over his back and ran forward. Finding hand and footholds on the tree bark wrapped around its leg and the ragged waistband of its loincloth, Ghirahim scaled up the back of the hinox. He seized a fistful of its wiry, white hair and yanked hard.

The hinox roared and spun around. It slapped at the demon on its shoulder, but Ghirahim clambered to its other side. The giant smacked its own face.

Ghirahim dodged another swipe, leaping over its head, and took out an arrow. He grabbed the horn on its head, dug his heels into its ears, then plunged the tip of his arrow into its massive eye. The hinox screeched and fell back onto its butt. As it flailed in pain, Ghirahim took out more arrows and stabbed them through its eyelids.

When the hinox stiffened and jerked back, having reached the limits of its endurance, Ghirahim back-flipped off its shoulders and landed in a crouch. His dragonfly wing cape fluttered down behind him. The monster pitched forward, succumbing to black ash. It collapsed and returned to Twilight in a burst of purple smoke. Monster parts and roasted fish rained down where it stood.

“Wow.” Zelda gaped at Ghirahim, amazed at how he finished off the monster.

Ghirahim scowled in return. “Close your mouth and attend to the Minish and horse.” Zelda blushed and hurried off. The demon continued to the edge of the island and looked down into the water. “Ganny?” he called. “Do you require assistance getting back up here?”

Ganondorf had managed to swim to a little patch of land with a shrine beneath the bridge. He was still on his knees, catching his breath after he coughed up the water he had inhaled upon his fall. Octoroks and strange, green humanoid fish monsters had spat rocks and fireballs at him, but he managed to take cover behind the shrine until they decided to leave him alone. “Just give me a minute,” he answered, looking back up at Ghirahim. “Is everyone okay up there?”

The demon glanced towards their companions. Link and Zelda had rejoined Vaati and their horse. “No one seems to be injured,” he said, watching them get the horse unhitched from the broken wagon.

“Thank goodness.” Ganondorf pushed himself to his feet. Looking up to the top of the island, he gave a weary sigh. It was going to be a long climb. He rolled his neck and stretched his shoulders, then hopped up onto the wall.

When Ganondorf finally rejoined his companions, Ghirahim was sitting on top of the broken wagon with his knee crossed over one leg. Link and Zelda were seated in the grass. Vaati was perched on the knight’s shoulder. Their horse was anxiously flicking her tail side to side, on high alert for any more wild projectiles.

Ganondorf stared at the wagon. The entire back of it was smashed to pieces. He made himself look away and faced Vaati instead. “Is it repairable?”

“I don’t know,” Vaati answered. “I’ve never mended something so large.”

 _“We’re not sure if we should bother either,”_ Link signed. He pointed at the Sheikah slate in his lap and added, _“This map shows all of the monster forts that existed a hundred years ago. All of the ones we’ve encountered so far have been rebuilt exactly where they used to be. If we keep going this way, we’re probably going to run into more monsters.”_

Zelda sat forward and said, “We were trying to decide what to do while we waited for you. Link thinks we should use the slate to go back to the Great Plateau and have Impa send us a Rito.”  
_“Vaati can travel ahead of us and put a teleportation marker at Gerudo Tower,”_ Link elaborated.

“But I want to keep going,” Zelda continued. “The kingdom’s knights are stretched thin enough as is – if there are more monsters in the Pass, we need to get rid of them. It’s my responsibility to my people to keep important roads like this open. Hyrule’s economy depends on trade between all of its people.”

Ganondorf pinched between his eyes, torn between their options. Waiting for a Rito would be safer, but he couldn’t deny that he felt partially responsible for the problems plaguing the kingdom.

Ghirahim placed his fingers on his chest. “I say we press on. Hardly anything is worse than a hinox, yet the challenge it presented us was laughable at best.”

Vaati frowned at the demon. “It knocked out Ganondorf and destroyed our wagon.”

“None of us were notably injured,” Ghirahim smoothly replied, dismissing Ganondorf’s bruises entirely. “I’ll grant you that we could have better coordinated our efforts, but that is just another reason to press on. We need more practice fighting together if our meeting with the twins is to result in battle.”

“He has a good point,” Zelda said, pointing at him. “I especially need the practice. All of you guys have trained your whole lives for this kind of stuff, but I’ve only been allowed weapons training as a hobby.”

“Vaati’s not a fighter either,” Ganondorf answered.

“But I do know how to defend myself if need be,” Vaati said. “Don’t forget that I fought many battles before I met you and Nab.”

“See?” Zelda held out his hands. “I’m the weak link here. If I mess up, I don’t want to be the reason our plans go to Twilight.”

Ganondorf wanted to assure Zelda that wouldn’t be the case, but it was hard to deny his logic. He pushed his fingers through his hair. Tugging on his scalp, he weighed their arguments.

After a minute, Ganondorf sighed. “Okay. We can keep going.” Looking at Link, he asked, “Will the horse know how to get back to town without us?”

 _“Maybe?”_ Link thought, lifting his hands with a shrug.

“I can tell her to return to the nearest stable,” Vaati said. “She doesn’t particularly want to keep traveling with us anyway.”

Zelda laughed. “I don’t blame her. We attract way too much trouble.”

 _“I think it’s just mostly you and Ganondorf,”_ Link signed.

Affronted, Zelda asked, “What about Ghirahim? He makes more trouble than us.” The demon raised his eyebrow at that, but didn’t dispute it.

 _“Yeah, he does_ make _trouble.”_ Link lifted his eyebrows for emphasis. _“I said you two_ attract _it.”_

Zelda stuck out his tongue at the knight.

Link laughed. _“I’m not wrong.”_

“Come on, guys,” Ganondorf said. “If we’re traveling on foot now, we have a lot of ground to cover before we can make camp.”

“Okay,” Zelda groaned, standing up.


	58. “Show me what you can do with your weapon.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We made it to 300 kudos! It's surreal that so many people have read and liked this work, especially considering I only started posting this back at the end of February (and it's the end of August now). Thank you, everyone!

Within minutes of stepping off the last bridge over Regencia River, Ganondorf was the first of his party to spot the monster fort erected just off the road. The tall, winding structure was built around one of the baobab trees somehow surviving in the hard packed, sandy ground near the canyon wall on their right. Overturned caravans and spiked fences fortified their defenses. Bokoblin archers kept watch over the road ahead of them while moblins patrolled the ground.

The encampment wouldn’t have given Ganondorf pause normally, but he also saw a band of strange, bokoblin-like monsters wielding sparking batons camped behind the caravans and spiked fences. Ganondorf assumed they must had been an extinct breed that the blood moon brought back. The new ’blins had tusked teeth and sagging cheeks reminiscent of a bulldog. Unlike their native cousins who wore only loincloths, they also had rubberized gloves, insulated sleeves and greaves, and white skullcaps with goggles to protect themselves from their electrified weapons.

Zelda barely noticed the new ’blins after he had spotted the wrecked caravans. He pulled his hands into fists. “Those bastards!” Unlike the hinox, which had possibly not bothered anyone except by being a roadblock, the ’blins had clearly waylaid other travelers. There was no telling how many people they must have killed, though Zelda prayed to Hylia that more escaped with their lives than not.

Vaati took one look at the Zelda and hopped off Ganondorf’s shoulder. “Be careful to avoid the technoblins’ batons,” he said, switching to his Hylian form to wait from a safe distance. “They’ll electrocute you if you touch them.”

 _“What era are they from?”_ Link asked, once again getting out his bow from the Sheikah slate. He also readied a sword and a wooden soldier’s shield just in case.

“Ghirahim’s time,” Vaati answered, surprising Link. The knight had been expecting the ’blins to have come from the first Calamity.

“They’re still as useless as they were back then.” Ghirahim scowled at the lowly creatures and their sorry excuse for an encampment. Had he been leading them, he would have had the ones on the watchtower whipped for not noticing them already. Facing Link, he said, “Give me a weapon.”

Link nodded, expecting the request this time, and pulled out a Zora sword.

Ganondorf bit back the urge to tell Ghirahim to stay behind or to use a bow instead. The demon would only take offense to any words of caution, and it would be an insult to his swordsmanship anyway if he actually suggested that he couldn’t handle a few ’blins after how he defeated the hinox. Another argument would just waste more of their time.

Once he walked to the front of his companions, Ganondorf said, “Kit, Link, you’re rear support again. Get the archers and anyone who ends up behind me. Ghirahim… do whatever you think is best.” He was going to say he should stay by his side, but Ganondorf knew he was going to be the ’blins biggest target, literally and metaphorically. It would be better for the demon to pick off anything that got past him or to defend Link and Zelda if either of them got surrounded.

Plan set, they hurried forward. Ganondorf didn’t bother to sneak up on the monsters. By the time the bokoblins on the tower noticed them, Link and Zelda were already loosing arrows and fireballs. A single peal of a war horn sounded before it was drowned out by the monsters’ battle cries.

It was almost comical how easily Ganondorf and Ghirahim leapt over and around the encampment’s meager defenses. Most of the monsters only needed one or two hits to be felled by their blades. They would only need a few more minutes to clear out the area entirely, Ganondorf thought, before a pair of tall, grossly overweight ’blins with spears and massive iron shields came down the road between a bottleneck in the canyon walls. Evidently, they had seriously miscounted their numbers; even more monsters were coming from a second fort hidden around the bend.

Ganondorf swore and punted one of the bokoblins that got too close to him. Their numbers weren’t enough to worry him yet, but it was aggravating nevertheless to have to slay so many. He had his mothers to thank for making the battle seem easy. The irony gave him little pleasure, knowing that their ‘lessons’ had prepared him so well to fight the horde their Malice resurrected.

While the Gerudo pressed onward, Zelda and Link followed. Ghirahim was practically dancing with the silver Zora sword. Not a single motion was wasted as he twirled and cut down each ’blin that dared to approach him. His dragonfly wing cape spun around him, and the iridescent scales of his shirt and hip sash shimmered in the desert sun. Zelda found the sight mesmerizing. He knew for a fact that he couldn’t move like that – had never even thought anyone could look so fluidly lethal – and it made him ache with jealousy. His fireballs were positively barbaric in comparison.

Zelda was so distracted, he didn’t notice the technoblins that had snuck around him. One struck his back with its electric baton. Before he could utter more than a garbled shout, Zelda’s muscles seized. He toppled over onto his knees and face like a statue, twitching uncontrollably. Static leapt over his skin. When it dissipated, his body felt like it was still vibrating. The smell of sand, steel, and ozone filled his nose. He barely got back up onto his elbows before the technoblin struck him again.

The technoblin gave a strangled cry behind Zelda. He shakily flipped himself over to face it and saw Ghirahim standing over him instead. “On your feet, Princess!” he said before cutting down another ’blin. Both disappeared into smoke.

Zelda could only blink before he managed to sit up. Even his brain felt like it was vibrating now with the rest of his body. “What kind of power was in those sticks?” he muttered, then yelped as an unseen force abruptly lifted him up onto his feet. Ghirahim had used his magic to make him rise.

“We have no use for lazy warriors.” Ghirahim dispatched the last technoblin surrounding them. “Fall back to Vaati if you’re unsound.”

“No, I can still fight,” Zelda protested. Feeling was quickly returning to his zapped limbs with the help of his adrenaline, but his head continued to buzz. It felt like an extra side effect of the technoblin’s batons, a persistent kind of mental static.

Ghirahim narrowed his eyes at the royal heir, unimpressed. “Prove it before I leave you.”

“Fine.” Zelda squeezed shut his eyes for a moment and rubbed his forehead in a vain attempt to clear the buzzing. He held out his hand towards one of the bokoblins running after Ganondorf and mentally reached for his fireball spell. It seemed to take him an extra moment to remember it, and as he summoned the magic to launch it, a crackle of pain arched through his arm. Embers sputtered from his fingers. “Ow!” He held his wrist and winced as sparks fizzled over his skin again.

“Just as I thought,” Ghirahim said. “Those batons discharge more than electric shocks. Its static is disrupting your magic. You’ll have to wait for it to dissipate before you can do anymore spellcasting.”

Zelda’s head spun around to gape at Ghirahim. “Seriously?”

“Yes. I suggest you fall back now.”

“No way!” Zelda held out his hand for the demon’s weapon. “Just give me your sword.”

Ghirahim’s stern expression turned into a glare. “I will not disarm myself for an incapacitated child.”

Zelda met the demon’s glare with one of his own. “I’m not a child!”

Ghirahim stared into the royal heir’s fierce, grey eyes, calculating his response. His expression slipped into a thin smile. “Is that so?” Ghirahim dropped the Zora sword and took Zelda’s hand. He transformed into his rapier and said, _“Then show me what you can do with your weapon.”_

As before, the shift caught Zelda by surprise, but he didn’t let it unsettle him this time. He tightened his hand on his hilt. “Okay,” he said, quietly pleased. He had missed the feeling of his rapier’s handle in his hand. “Just don’t break on me before we’re done.”

 _“Oh, perish the very thought,”_ Ghirahim answered, failing to hide the eager anticipation in his tone.

Zelda grinned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, since this is the last update I'll post before Wednesday, I figure I might as well mention now that my birthday is on Monday, the 31st.
> 
> I don't really have anything extra to post to celebrate, but if you could comment with something specific you like about this story, whether it's a character or relationship, setting description, plot detail, etc, it would be the best birthday present to hear from my readers and know what you appreciate. (It might also help me figure out what to do with book 2 because I still haven't made any frickin progress and I don't know what to do with it anymore.)


	59. “It is not your responsibility to protect all of us.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes last weekend! I really appreciated seeing your comments!

When Zelda caught up with their friends, he wasn’t nearly as graceful as Ghirahim had been, but he continued to fell monsters all the same. From his rapier, Ghirahim directed Zelda the rest of the battle, guiding him through how to best position himself to avoid being completely surrounded or how to better aim his rapier. He warned Zelda whenever a ’blin got into his blind spot, and he used his magic to deflect or soften blows Zelda was too slow to dodge.

The battle ended sooner than Zelda would have preferred. While Ganondorf killed the last shield moblin, Link wandered the battlefield, collecting arrows and monster parts. He stashed one of the technoblin’s electric batons in the Sheikah slate. Zelda noticed and hoped Link would let him try wielding it during their next battle. The static affecting him had faded, replaced entirely with exhilaration. Fighting real monsters was infinitely better than sparring dummies. It would be difficult to go back to them once their adventure was over, Zelda realized with a pang of disappointment.

 _“Fear not, Princess,”_ Ghirahim said. _“There will be plenty of monsters to slay for quite the time to come.”_

The reassurance helped for only a moment before Zelda remembered that lots of monsters was bad for his kingdom. He pondered the logistics of setting up some sort of monster reserve so he could continue the exercise without endangering his people, despite that it seemed like an awfully depraved sort of idea.

Zelda was still daydreaming when Link and Ganondorf walked over to him. The Gerudo had noticed Ghirahim switch to Zelda’s rapier during the fight, but he had been too busy to say anything then. Now he couldn’t help the defensive anger that rose in him at their irresponsible stupidity.

“Ghirahim, come out of Kit’s sword,” Ganondorf demanded. “What were you both thinking?”

Zelda looked up at Ganondorf, caught off-guard by his tone, and shied back.

Ghirahim returned to his Hylian form and faced the Gerudo with an unimpressed expression. “Kit required a weapon after the technoblins stunned his magic.” He shrugged with his hands up. “I couldn’t very well leave him unattended.”

“You know there were a dozen other ways you could’ve fought with him!”

“And?” Ghirahim coolly regarded Ganondorf. “I don’t recall you forbidding such a course of action. Unless I am mistaken, did you not tell me to ‘do whatever I think is best’?”

“How was that the best idea?” Ganondorf retorted. “What if his rapier broke? Are any of our other weapons able to work as a replacement?”

Ghirahim turned his attention to his nails, as if Ganondorf’s anger bored him. “My magic is not so weak that I cannot shield myself. Your worry is misplaced.”

“Misplaced?” Ganondorf took a step forward. “Ghirahim, you nearly fucking _died_ in front of me. Stop acting like I’m trying to ruin your fun just because I don’t want to lose you.”

His words made the demon pull his face into tight-lipped expression. He inclined his head and did not answer.

Zelda looked from Ghirahim to Ganondorf. Hesitantly, he said, “Don’t be mad at him. I was the one who didn’t want to fall back after I got zapped.”

 _“They were handling themselves just fine,”_ Link thought. _“Zelda was the only one in any real danger before Ghirahim helped him.”_

Ganondorf scowled at Link, making the knight reflexively circle his hand over his chest to apologize. Guilt dosed his anger. He pinched between his eyes with a heavy sigh. “I know,” he said, “but I just…”

“It is not your responsibility to protect all of us,” Ghirahim stated, subdued. “What risks I choose to take are mine.”

“We all knew coming with you would be dangerous,” Zelda added. “If you really didn’t want us to come, you should’ve said so before we left the castle.”

“No, I do want you guys to be here.” Ganondorf paused, trying to think of better words. “I just didn’t think things would be as bad out here as they are back home. We’re so close to actually having to face my mothers, but I can’t…” His voice broke.

Ganondorf’s mind went back to the broken, orange glow of Ghirahim’s core; his sister’s slit throat and the sound of her choking on her own blood; Vaati’s pallid, unconscious face; the countless phantom pains and volleys of fire and ice that had stabbed and branded his body. He was remembering Ghirahim’s near death, and Nabooru’s, and Vaati’s, and his own, and the fact that his birth mother was dead and strangers who shouldn’t have had any part of this were dying because he wasn’t and couldn’t be the warlord his mothers wanted.

When he managed to speak, his voice was a rough whisper. “I don’t want them to take anything else away from me.”

“They’re not going to,” Zelda said. “We won’t let them. You’re not going to lose any of us, okay?” He took a step forward. He considered trying to take Ganondorf’s hand or hugging him to try to offer more comfort, but couldn’t work up the nerve with Ghirahim and Link present.

Ganondorf struggled to speak again, trying not to break down in front of his friends. He took deep breaths until he felt steady again. “Okay,” he said. He noticed Vaati was making his way towards them, no doubt wondering what the holdup was about. “Come on. We need to go find somewhere to camp that doesn’t stink of monster guts.”

* * *

After dispatching a trio of electric chuchus and several monstrous vultures that had been nesting on outcrops of sandstone, baobab trees, and abandoned scaffolding built into the cliff walls surrounding them, the party made camp beneath one of the great arches stretching over the Canyon Pass. Barely a breeze disturbed the tufts of yellow grass. A lizard skittered beneath a dry bush nearby, claws scrabbling softly over the ground. Wasteland coyotes barked and tussled with each other somewhere down the valley before going quiet once more.

Link and Zelda set up the cooking pot and got their campfire going while Ganondorf and Ghirahim erected one of their tents, which miraculously weren’t crushed when that boulder destroyed their wagon. Vaati was perched on top of Zelda’s head, free to watch them work instead of help. The Gerudo was planning to sleep under the stars since it was a clear night, but the knight and royal heir wanted the extra bit of security.

When Ganondorf finished laying out their bedrolls, he joined his friends by the campfire and breathed deeply in the smoky, savory smell of Link’s cooking. The knight was roasting meat and mushroom skewers, made with sunshrooms to keep them warm through the desert’s night, and a pot of sautéed nuts for them to snack on tomorrow. He had also pulled out veggie rice balls he had been saving in the Sheikah slate, apparently. The knight and the royal heir were snacking on them while they waited for the skewers. Link held one out for the Gerudo.

Ganondorf gratefully accepted the rice ball and took a bite. Its herby goodness practically melted in his mouth. The quiet, comfortable companionship was almost more than Ganondorf could bear. The few times he had gone camping alone or with Ghirahim as part of his mother’s training had never felt this nice.

“I wish Nab could see all this,” Ganondorf found himself saying, watching the shadows of his friends from the fire flicker across the side of the canyon arches behind them. The sun had long since fallen; stars were beginning to appear in the narrow band of visible sky. “She would’ve loved it out here.”

“Does she like stargazing?” Zelda asked, following Ganondorf’s gaze. The sky seemed brighter in the desert than it did at the castle.

Ganondorf’s lips pressed into a humorless smile. “She dreamed of being able to.”

Zelda’s eyes widened. “You mean she was never able to leave the Yiga’s hideout until we got her out?”

“No.” Ganondorf faced the fire. He watched the chickaloo nuts in the cooking pot sizzle and pop as they roasted. “She was there my whole life.”

Ghirahim looked sidelong at Ganondorf. Quietly, he said, “I gave her the option to leave. It was her choice to stay.”

“You were making her choose between me and her freedom,” Ganondorf retorted, sharper than he intended. “That’s not a choice.”

Zelda glanced at the Gerudo before facing the demon. “What do you mean?” he asked Ghirahim. “If you were willing to let Nabooru go, why did you kidnap her too?”

Ghirahim sighed. “Does it even matter?”

 _“I think so,”_ Link thought. He hesitated, then signed, _“I’ve been wondering why Ganondorf’s real mother had to die, too. Couldn’t you have taken him without killing her?”_

The demon didn’t speak. Ganondorf’s breath caught in his throat, realizing that he didn’t know if he wanted the answers to these questions. He had only ever known half-truths or lies about the night of his birth. Nabooru had been escaping the palace with their father when Ghirahim took her. Vaati was the one who found out that the Yiga had killed their birth mother, but he was never able to learn anything else.

Ghirahim noticed Ganondorf tense up. He faced Link and Zelda with a sharp look. “You are prying into old wounds that need not be reopened.”

“But we should know,” Zelda protested.

“ _You_ do not need to know anything,” Ghirahim retorted. “Ganondorf is the only one here who has any right to this story.”

Zelda faltered, immediately ashamed for overstepping. “Right… I’m sorry.” He turned to Ganondorf. “You do want to know the truth, though, don’t you?”

Link and Vaati stared at Ganondorf, obviously invested in his answer, despite not wanting to push it. Ghirahim waited silently, not facing any of them.

Ganondorf pinched between his eyes, regretting having mentioned Nabooru at all. He didn’t want to be having this conversation. It hurt to remember, and he was scared to hear Ghirahim explain why he helped his mothers forever alter the course of his life. But if he didn’t let him explain now, Ganondorf wasn’t sure if he would ever have the courage to ask him again. And if anything went wrong when they faced his mothers… He didn’t want to lose his chance to get the truth.

“Please tell us, Ghirahim,” Ganondorf eventually said. “What happened when I was born?”


	60. “Sometimes things need to hurt again before they can heal.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We reached 325 kudos! And we've reached the end of the extra chapters I added after I finished this story, so I'm excited to see what you all think. All of the previous chapters were written just because I was trying to get to this specific scene. (In my first draft, it originally came up when I wrote chapter 53, but it just didn't fit right there pacing-wise.)
> 
> On Wednesday, we'll begin the final arc of this story. It's gonna be a wild ride.

Ghirahim took a moment to collect his thoughts, debating where to begin the story. How he met Ganondorf was not a night he particularly liked to remember, and he knew it would be harder still to recount what happened. When he finally spoke, his hair masked his expression.

“Before you were born,” Ghirahim said in a low voice, “the plan was for our spies to identify and incapacitate the chosen midwives, take their place during the birth, and spirit away the baby if it was a boy. We didn’t know for certain Inume’s second child would be male, you see. We didn’t want to do anything drastic if the twins’ prediction turned out to be wrong.”

Ghirahim flicked his fingers, using his magic to throw another branch into their fire. “The plan went to Twilight because Ganny was born nine days early.” The branch snapped as flames overtook it. “Our spies in the castle were caught unprepared and bungled their job. The alarm was raised and roused all of the guards. By the time the twins and I knew what was happening at the palace, the guards were in battle with our forces and Inume was already well into labor.

“I teleported to Inume’s chambers, but found she had been relocated to another room to give birth. The guards outside refused to tell me where they took her. We had precious little time to intervene if we wanted to keep the existence of my reborn master a secret. So, when my threats failed, I enlisted the Yiga remaining at the palace to help me find her.”

Ghirahim went quiet for a moment, recalling their frantic search. He distinctly remembered encountering many guards, but they were hardly more than bodies in his way. He hadn’t bothered with theatrics, didn’t prolong the bloodshed to relish the dance of their blades. Only panicked urgency had guided his blade that night, and the fear of losing his master _yet_ _again_.

“When we finally made it to the birthing room, the midwife was tying off the crying babe’s cord. I knocked her aside to get to him. And when I saw…” Ghirahim glanced up at Ganondorf, though the Gerudo wasn’t looking at him. He was staring at his clasped hands with a steeled expression. “When I saw you, I… felt a great many things,” he finished lamely, averting his gaze once more. There were no words to convey the depth of his conflicting _feelings_ in that moment.

“I couldn’t believe how small you were when I finally laid my eyes on you.” Ghirahim lifted up his hand and looked down at his palm. “You were such a tiny thing, even after I so clumsily swaddled you in my cape.” Ganondorf had weighed nearly nothing as a newborn and had fit quite neatly in the crook of his arm. He had wanted to be happy to be reunited with his master at last, but his joy had been tempered by the realization that his master was an infant. An absolutely helpless creature. It had terrified him, the knowledge that he alone was all that stood between his master and the dangers of the world, that he would have to raise the God who had given him everything.

“You didn’t stop crying despite my shushing,” Ghirahim said, lost in the memory, “but I’m sure that was because of the guards yelling and Inume screaming at me to give her back her son. I hardly heard her, however. I was only vaguely aware that the Yiga were cutting down everyone present in the room when I left them behind.”

Ganondorf pressed his fingernails into the palms of his hands, clenching his jaw.

“I ran into Nabooru and her father while I was fleeing the palace,” Ghirahim continued, as if he hadn’t noticed Ganondorf breaking inside. As if glossing over that moment could make it better or forgivable, as if he didn’t regret that particular death. “Guards were trying to take them to safety, but she had been a silly little girl. She tried to stop me as soon as she saw me and my precious bundle.”

Ghirahim paused. He remembered the scene so clearly – Nabooru running past her father to cut off the demon; the fluffy, red curls around her pudgy, determined face; her demand that he give back her baby sister – but he couldn’t quite recall why her words had affected him so strongly, why a precocious child had made him falter when their mother’s pleas did not.

“I don’t know what exactly possessed me to take her too,” he admitted. “I suppose I had some awareness that my reborn master would need a companion closer to his new age. If I am being generous, I may have even believed the Yiga were going to kill her too if she remained in the palace. I was… out of sorts, given how everything fell apart.

“The twins were furious with me for bringing her back with Ganny, but eventually they decided it would be better to keep her than to have me take her back to the palace. They had the idea that she could be their little protégée. Nabooru never warmed up to them, however. They gave up on trying to win her affection within the year. The only reason they kept her around after that was because she had a knack for making Ganny stop his incessant crying.

“I offered Nabooru the chance to return to the palace when Ganny was older, when he began rebelling against her mothering and she lost her usefulness in keeping him behaved. I knew that the twins would never allow her any freedom under their watch, so I thought she would jump at the opportunity to return home.” Ghirahim lifted up his hands. “And yet, she refused. She didn’t trust me or the twins to keep care of Ganny, despite that we were giving him everything a young king could ever want.”

Ghirahim paused, glancing at Vaati. The Minish had switched to his Hylian form to sit beside Ganondorf and was rubbing his back. Ganondorf was still facing his clenched hands.

The demon faced the fire once more. “Well, I thought we were, anyway.”

When the demon fell quiet, no one else spoke. Ganondorf was still digging his nails into the sides of his fingers. Vaati continued leaning against his side, holding as much of him as he could. Link took the mushroom and meat skewers off the fire and set them aside so they wouldn’t burn. He knew better than to announce that dinner was ready. Zelda stared at the skewers and then at Ganondorf, debating if there was anything he could say.

Eventually, Ghirahim said, “This is why I didn’t want to tell this story. It’s done nothing but make things worse.”

“No,” Ganondorf said, struggling against the lump in his throat. His hands stung with the indents of his fingernails. “I… I’m glad you told me.”

“Don’t lie,” Ghirahim retorted, sitting up to face him. “You’re on the verge of tears.”

“I know, but…” Ganondorf didn’t know how to put his feelings into words. His thoughts kept turning over the moment Ghirahim took him from his birth mother. He imagined her like Nabooru since he had no other face to associate with her. He could practically hear how she must have sounded, still exhausted by labor, screaming at the demon to give him back. That she actually wanted her son. That she had loved him for even a brief few minutes.

As much as it hurt, it was proof his mothers really had been lying. That they hadn’t rescued him from people who would have killed him. That he had been wrenched away from parents who would have done anything to keep him. It wasn’t until now that he realized how deep that doubt had wormed its way into his heart, the belief that he wasn’t wanted.

Yet knowing his birth mother had wanted him didn’t change the fact she was dead, and that was what made it hurt so much more. He didn’t have to mourn a woman he never knew if he hadn’t meant anything to her, but now… For the first time, he felt the full depth of his loss.

Vaati continued rubbing circles into Ganondorf’s back as he faced Ghirahim and said, “Sometimes things need to hurt again before they can heal.”

“But why?” Ghirahim demanded. “ _Feelings_ aren’t an improperly set bone fracture! They’re fleeting things that just get in the way!”

“They’re not,” Vaati answered. “How we feel is just as important as how we think, and to deny that is to deny a core part of yourself.”

“Why should we accept anything that makes us weak and reckless?”

“Because they’re also what make life worth living. You may be a divine being, but you and your concerns are more mortal than you care to admit.”

“Tch!” Ghirahim glared at the Minish, but his retort died on his tongue. He crossed his arms and turned away.

“Vaati’s right.” Ganondorf pushed himself up to his feet. “I’ll be better eventually,” he said, somehow managing to keep his voice even. “You guys have dinner. I’m… I’ll go to make sure the area’s clear.”

Zelda’s eyebrows pulled together in concern. “You need to eat too.”

“I will later,” Ganondorf answered, putting the master sword back on his belt. “I won’t be gone long.”

“Okay then…” Zelda watched Ganondorf walk out into the night. He didn’t know why the Gerudo bothered to bring his weapon. They had already killed all of the monsters in the area, and the ones left weren’t going felled by the master sword, no matter how many blessings Fi had. Zelda had learned that hard truth himself after his own mother died.

Link passed Zelda and Vaati a meat and mushroom skewer each. Ghirahim declined, preferring to silently brood on the evening.


	61. “Every inch of the sand is filled with new bullshit.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the late update! I had an idea for a chapter to add between this update and last week's, but it didn't get written and it kind of hit me like of ton of bricks that this story is almost over and I still don't have book 2 anywhere near done. I was really, really hoping to have it ready to go as soon as this story wraps up so I could continue to have something to upload every week, but it's looking like I'll need to take a hiatus when this book finishes. 
> 
> Also! I forgot to mention this earlier, but I drew Ghirahim's redesign! I've posted it below so you can see how I've been imagining him - does it match up with the image you had in your head?

[[Link to like or retweet on my Twitter!](https://twitter.com/DarkAcey/status/1301675431561768962)]

* * *

  
“I take back all my complaints about the wagon,” Ghirahim grumbled as he walked behind his companions through the Canyon Pass. “This pace is even worse.”

“If you don’t want to walk,” Zelda said, “you could just hang out in my rapier’s sheath.”

Ghirahim’s nose curled in disdain. “No, thank you. If I’m not in your hands, I’d rather be on my feet.”

Zelda rolled his eyes and smiled. “Suit yourself.”

Hot, dry wind rustled yellow tufts of grass and kicked dust across their clothes, but the road was blessedly still in shadow that morning due to the tall cliff walls on either side of them. In preparation for entering the desert, Link put on his predecessors’ sapphire circlet and voe spaulder. He gave Zelda the voe headband and trousers to wear. After they changed, Zelda understood why Ganondorf liked his desert clothes so much. The silky material felt like a cool breeze on his skin and made the growing heat actually tolerable.

While they crossed through the Canyon Pass, they encountered more new creatures summoned by the second blood moon. Centipede-like moldorms ran in zig-zag paths between the cliff walls. Snail-like ampilus rolled themselves around in their electrified shells. Monstrous vultures dive-bombed them around every bend in the road. Link used his royal bow to take out the vultures and Zelda practiced fighting with Ghirahim in his rapier against the moldorms, but the ampilus were a consistent problem because their weapons conducted electricity. They could only kill them whenever Link bashed them with a wooden shield or if they rolled into a wall or a rock and stunned themselves.

When they finally arrived at the Gerudo Canyon Stable, they were pleasantly surprised to find its stable hands hadn’t been overrun by the monsters filling the pass. There were, however, many travelers hanging around, having all been waylaid during their travels or too scared to move on and press their luck. They chatted amongst themselves around the tables in the stable or under the cover of tents set up around parked caravans. The communal cooking pot was open, so Link went with Ghirahim to make lunch. Zelda, Ganondorf, and Vaati talked to the stable owner to learn more about the conditions out on the sand.

“Yeah,” the stable owner said, “I really don’t recommend going anywhere in the desert unless you got well-trained sand seals.” He rubbed the back of his neck, looking apologetic. “The Pass is bad enough, but it’s worse out there. The guys who’ve made it here from Gerudo Town and the bazaar tell me there’s a ton more lizalfos, and now there’s big cactus things, freaky scorpions, and even living patches of sand.” He jutted his thumb towards some of the stable guests. “Just talk to any of these guys and they’ll tell you all about them.”

Zelda and Ganondorf glanced at each other, equally troubled but unsurprised. Vaati leaned forward from his spot on Ganondorf’s shoulder and said, “Ask if we can get sand seals here.”

Ganondorf did so, and the stable owner answered, “No, we only got horses. You might be able to find some outside the Gateway, but really, whatever business you have out there can’t be worth it. You’re better off waiting until the Gerudo warriors get here. They’ve been going back and forth to escort folks through the desert.”

Shaking his head with a sigh, Ganondorf said, “I appreciate your concern, but we can handle ourselves. Our business is stopping things from getting worse.”

The stable owner looked doubtful, but said, “Okay, if you’re sure…”

“We are,” Zelda said before explaining how he and his friends had cleared the Canyon Pass. After that, they talked for a while longer to get more details about the monsters in the desert so Vaati could identify them, and eventually Zelda and Ganondorf returned to Link and Ghirahim.

“We’re basically fucked,” Ganondorf announced as he sat down. “Every inch of the sand is filled with new bullshit.”

Link flipped the seafood meuniere fillets he was frying, made with chillfin trout he had pulled from the Sheikah slate. Ghirahim had watched the knight prepare them with dubious fascination, as if studying the process would reveal what could be fun about fussing with messy ingredients. _“Should we try to get to Gerudo Tower though the Highlands instead?”_

Ganondorf tipped back his head to look at the sheer cliffs around them. “I don’t know. I didn’t bring any clothes for cold weather, and I’m not sure you guys can handle that kind of climbing.”

Zelda rested his arms on his knees with a groan. “We’d probably run into other monsters that are just as bad up there too.”

“True,” Ganondorf said, acknowledging his point by tipping his head to the side.

 _“I can still ask Impa to send us a Rito messenger,”_ Link suggested. _“We can wait here until Vaati puts down his sigil.”_

“I’m not a fan of being separated,” Vaati said. “This close to Karusa Valley, we’re at risk of being discovered by the Yiga at any time.”

_“If we need to flee, we can use the Sheikah slate.”_

Zelda sat up and said, “It’ll take just as long to wait for a messenger to arrive. We’ve fought plenty of monsters together already, so we might as well save Vaati’s energy and get ourselves there on our own.”

 _“But we’ve never fought anything in the desert before,”_ Link said. _“We were struggling against the monsters in the Pass.”_

“Yeah, but none of us really got hurt, so it’s fine,” Zelda answered. “And this is Gan’s home turf.” He looked at the Gerudo. “You’re used to fighting stuff out here, right?”

“I mean, I guess?” Ganondorf said. “You shouldn’t underestimate how much sand can affect your combat ability.”

Ghirahim crossed his leg over his knee with an unperturbed expression. “Even if they struggle, we can compensate for their lack of experience.”

“He has been pretty useful in my rapier,” Zelda said. The demon had been helping the royal heir with his footwork and attack precision throughout their morning in the Canyon Pass. His guidance was better than any of the veteran knights’ lessons, and his supernatural senses doubled as a second pair of eyes to watch his back. It would be no different to have him continue his guidance through the new terrain.

Ghirahim gestured to Zelda, reaffirming his point.

 _“Fine.”_ Link sighed and served their lunch. “ _But if it turns out we can’t handle it, we’re switching to my idea.”_

* * *

The sand was worse than Zelda expected, but not unbearable. Each step took twice as much effort as the ground shifted underfoot. The sun directly overhead was what he hated the most, though. It cooked the top of his head and sunburned his skin despite his voe gear. Link was faring only marginally better, since he was also flushed pink and sweating. Ganondorf and Ghirahim marched along without trouble. If anything, the heat-haze seemed to polish the Gerudo’s muscles. It was with much disappointment that Zelda couldn’t ogle him as much as he wanted. His cloak covered most of his body, keeping off the sun. Ganondorf offered to let Zelda use it when he noticed how sunburned he was getting, but the royal heir turned him down. Even though he appreciated the offer and was sorely tempted, he didn’t want it to drag behind him and hamper his visibility.

More of the monstrous vultures from the Canyon Pass swooped over them, and they came across stacks of cactus creatures called pokey. Both were easily slain with fireballs. As they drew nearer to the Great Cliffs, Zelda began to think the stable owner’s warning was blown out of proportion. The desert itself was more annoying than the creatures they encountered.

Barely five minutes passed after he had that thought before their party was ambushed by camouflaged lizalfos. They leapt down from the walls of towering stone arches and pillars around them, brandishing spears and screeching. Zelda grabbed Ghirahim’s hand and the demon transformed into his rapier just in time to parry a tongue shot. Link unsheathed the royal broadsword he had been using that morning and held up a soldier shield.

Putting their backs to each other in a triangle formation with Ganondorf, they fought off the overgrown reptiles. As they battled, it drew the attention of scorpion-like aracha and toothy leever worms hiding in the sand.

Their formation fell apart as they struggled to keep their feet out of the leevers’ mouths. It almost seemed like the hungry things were trying to separate them. Ganondorf tried to keep their enemies focused on him, but the leevers endlessly rose up to replace their dispatched kin.

As Zelda stabbed his rapier into a leever that had surfaced beneath him, Ghirahim shouted, _“Look up!”_

Zelda readied a fireball and lifted his head to see over a dozen Yiga foot soldiers flash-jumping down the Highlands. The puffs of smoke left by their spell casting made it seem they were riding down a sand storm. “Shit! We’ve been found!” The sounds of their battle must have caught the attention of the guards on the rim of the Gerudo Tower pit.

Link’s eyes widened in terror. _“We need to run!”_ He raised his shield against an aracha’s tail stinger and swung his royal broadsword to cut it off. _“Get to me or Gan, Zelda!”_

“But we—”

 _“Move!”_ Ghirahim exclaimed, but his warning came too late. Another leever appeared beneath Zelda and swallowed his leg.

Crying out, Zelda fell over. His foot got stuck inside of its mouth of rotating teeth. They were shredding his boot and pants, slicing his calf and thigh. “Argh!” Hacking at the leever, he shouted, “Get! Off! Of! Me!”

Ganondorf cursed. “Kit!” He knocked back the lizalfos occupying him and took a step towards Zelda, only to be halted by twin arrows. He cut down a second volley with the master sword and used his offhand twin blade to block a third. The Yiga coming down the Highlands split directions and began surrounding them. Link held up his shield against the rain of arrows. The Yiga were moving faster than he could run, and Ganondorf realized they would reach the knight before he could get back to his companions.

“Link, go now!” Ganondorf called.

_“But—”_

“Don’t argue! I’ll get Kit.”

Link growled in frustration, but sheathed his weapon and grabbed the Sheikah slate. _“I knew we should’ve gone with my idea.”_ Just before a Yiga foot soldier could tackle him, he evaporated into lines of blue light.

“One safe,” Ganondorf muttered, pressing on again to get to Zelda. He continued cutting down Yiga arrows and leapt around the leevers chasing his footsteps. Vaati clung to the inside of his cloak, pressing himself low against Ganondorf’s neck.

Zelda got his leg out of the leever, but it was badly mangled and bleeding. Ghirahim had returned to his true form and was crouched over Zelda. The Yiga’s arrows broke across his onyx skin. He faced Ganondorf with a grimace and called, “Hurry, Ganny!”

Less than a yard from reaching them, Ganondorf messed up his timing. The master sword brushed against the tails of two arrows, shifting their course, but not stopping them. He lurched to avoid losing an eye and heard the briefest squeak as the arrows whizzed past his ear.

“Fuck!” Ganondorf spun around and saw a spot of purple hit the sand a few feet behind him. A spray of dust followed the impact. “Vaati!” The sand beneath the Minish churned as a leever surfaced. Ganondorf dropped his weapons and dove for him.

Ganondorf’s fingers got under Vaati just before the leever’s mouth could swallow him. As Ganondorf jumped back to his feet, he got a better look at the Minish. His sock cap had fallen off. Blood was staining his tunic. His eyes were closed. He looked unconscious or dead. “Shit, shit, _shit!_ ”

 _“Get your swords!”_ Link called in Ganondorf’s mind.

Ganondorf cupped his fingers around Vaati and turned back to his dropped weapons. Ghirahim had gotten up and was fighting the Yiga foot soldiers that had convened around him and Zelda. The royal heir raised himself up onto one elbow to shoot fireballs, but couldn’t stand. Yiga screamed as they were engulfed in flames, but most flash-jumped to dodge his blasts. One of the Yiga reached to pick up the master sword, but Ghirahim swung his hand and made it fly off the ground towards Ganondorf. At the same moment, a Yiga hit him in the back of his head with a demon carver. Ghirahim crumpled to the ground.

“No!” Ganondorf caught the master sword. He turned to confront the Yiga just as one got behind Zelda with a vicious sickle. Its inner crescent hooked around his neck. “Don’t!” he exclaimed, involuntarily stepping forward.

“Surrender your weapons,” the Yiga behind Zelda said.

Zelda met Ganondorf’s eyes. Breathing hard, he gave the Gerudo a tiny nod of permission. With Vaati unconscious in Ganondorf’s hand, they didn’t have any hope of escaping, and Zelda was losing too much blood to prolong the fight.

“Okay, but don’t hurt Kit.” Ganondorf threw down the master sword and his remaining Gerudo blade. The Yiga came forward. As they collected his swords, he closed his eyes and tried to make his Triforce to activate. He couldn’t let this fight end this way. There had to be a point he could return to, to go with Link’s plan after all, but leaving the stable felt so long ago. Too long.

Was there a limit to how far he could go back? The thought struck Ganondorf with dread. He had never tried to reverse more than fifteen minutes, but they had been in the desert far longer than that. And he hadn’t even gotten a scratch from any of the monsters, so there was no death reset he could piggyback on. He balled his empty hand into a fist. “Come _on_ ,” he growled.

“That’s my line,” a Yiga stated, grabbing Ganondorf’s arm. “Time to go back home.”

Ganondorf opened his eyes. He saw Ghirahim was just starting to wake up, still dazed from his head injury. Other Yiga members were yanking Zelda up onto his feet, making the royal heir grimace. “Hey!” he snapped. “I said don’t hurt him!”

“You’re not the boss of us,” the Yiga holding Ganondorf said. “Your mothers are, and they’ll certainly be pleased to have you back.” He gestured to the others to head out and cast the spell sign to teleport them to the hideout.


	62. “Don’t blame yourself.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was about to go to bed before I realized I almost forgot to post today's update, so here it is!
> 
> Also, a great update about book 2: I think I've _finally_ figured out what was screwing over my plot. It means I can finally start to make progress again, but I did have to basically start over completely... So 36K of work is now obsolete. I might be able to work parts of it into the new direction I'm taking, but I'm not banking on it. I'll probably just upload my favorite bits of the old stuff in my [bonus content series](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1806355).

Ganondorf, Zelda, Ghirahim, and the Yiga holding them appeared in the old entrance of the hideout. They stood at the foot of the pedestal in the center of the space. Ancient Gerudo statues stood around them, faces covered by Yiga masks, while torches burned on the sandstone walls.

“Hey!” Ghirahim snapped at the Yiga who was holding his shoulder. “Unhand me!”

The Yiga flinched and reached for his weapon. Before they could continue fighting, the soldier holding Zelda put his sickle to the royal heir’s throat again. Zelda’s pained expression filled with alarm and he leaned back as far as he could to distance himself from the blade. Blood from his mangled leg stained the sandstone floor. “Stand down or I slit the pretty boy’s neck.”

Ghirahim’s head whipped around and his eyes widened in shock. Then he bared his teeth and snarled, “You dare command me?”

The Yiga moved his sickle closer. “I doubt you’re faster than my blade.”

“Just do what he says,” Ganondorf said, mentally cursing. “Kit’s bleeding out and needs healing.” He was also still worried about Vaati, who definitely still needed medical attention too. The Minish hadn’t moved once since he hid him in his hand.

Seething, Ghirahim brushed off invisible dust from his onyx skin and returned to his Hylian form with a flash of diamonds. “Fine.” As he got back to his feet, his dragonfly wing cape unfurled behind him. “But none of you touch me again.”

If the Yiga were surprised by his Gerudo-fairy makeover, their pale masks hid their reactions and none of them commented on it. “Come with me,” the one holding Zelda hostage said to the demon. To Ganondorf, he said, “You can go wait for Twinrova in your room.”

Ganondorf mentally swore again, loath to be separated.

 _“It’ll be okay,”_ Link stated in their minds, though he sounded far from certain. All three of the knight’s conscious companions stiffened at the sound of his voice and looked at each other. _“Act like you can’t hear me. I’m keeping watch on all of you.”_

“All right,” Ganondorf sighed, pretending he was answering the Yiga instead of Link. “I’ll go, but just hurry and fix Kit’s leg please. I won’t keep cooperating if you let him die.”

“You’re not in any position to be making demands, but sure.” The Yiga lowered his sickle. Zelda visibly sagged with relief. “We’ll get him patched up.”

It was more reassurance than Ganondorf expected. With one last look goodbye, the Yiga holding Zelda went down a tunnel to their left and Ghirahim followed. Ganondorf headed into the tunnel down the right that led down to his living quarters. Three Yiga followed behind him.

After Ganondorf stepped into his room, the Yiga told him they would return as soon as his mothers called for him. He closed his door after they left and immediately opened his hand to check on Vaati. The Minish’s face had become deathly pale. His blood made Ganondorf’s fingers sticky, but he didn’t seem to be bleeding anymore. Ganondorf couldn’t tell if he somehow closed the wound on his own. It looked more like he had bled out entirely.

“Oh, fuck,” Ganondorf breathed. “Vaati, please don’t be dead.” He rushed to the cabinet of elixirs he and Nabooru kept behind their bathroom sink mirror and grabbed a vial of red liquid. Uncorking it with his teeth, he tipped the vial near Vaati’s mouth. “Please, Vaati, drink this.” He nudged him with his thumb. His head lolled to the side. “No… Don’t die on me, dammit!”

The Minish remained unresponsive.

“Vaati!” Ganondorf shook his hand. “Wake up!”

 _“Pour what you can into his mouth,”_ Link said. _“I can still hear his heartbeat.”_

“Fuck, Link!” Ganondorf exhaled with shaky relief. “Say something sooner next time.”

 _“Sorry.”_ Link voice sounded stretched thin, as if it took effort to concentrate on any thought beyond his anxiety.

Hand shaking, Ganondorf did his best to part Vaati’s lips and tip the elixir down into his mouth, but most of it spilled across Vaati’s face and chest and down his hand. Ganondorf hoped that whatever the Minish couldn’t drink would still have some effectiveness as it soaked his wounded side. He pushed Vaati’s torn tunic with his finger to examine it and found it looked more like an angry welt than a gaping cut.

After a moment, Vaati coughed and doubled over, retching some of the elixir onto Ganondorf’s palm. A lot had gone down the wrong pipe. Once he cleared his lungs, he weakly sat back up. He glanced down at his soiled tunic and tugged on its hem to examine the damage. His hand then went to his uncovered lavender hair.

“Oh,” Vaati said hoarsely. “I lost my cap.”

Ganondorf gave a broken laugh, blinking back tears. “You nearly gave me a fucking heart attack, and that’s your first thought?”

“Sorry.” Vaati looked up and blinked as he recognized Ganondorf’s bathroom. “Are we in your room?”

“Yeah.” Ganondorf lowered Vaati into the sink and moved the soap rest onto the drain to give him a place to stand. “You should wash up,” he said, turning the faucets on to a trickle. He rinsed off his own hands and dried them. “Did you leave any of your clothes in your room?”

“Uh… Yes.” It took Vaati a moment to think through his exhaustion and growing headache. His lungs were still burning from choking on the elixir, and the cut on his side felt like it could reopen if he tried to move too much. He sat down under the trickle of water. As he began rinsing off the hearty elixir and his own dried blood, he asked, “What happened?”

“You got hit with an arrow and the Yiga caught us.”

 _“All of you except me,”_ Link stated bitterly. _“I’m currently sitting in the Shrine of Resurrection.”_

Ganondorf went into Nabooru’s room and got onto his hands and knees to reach under her dresser into Vaati’s room. While he pressed the side of his face to the floor to try to better see where his hand was going, he asked, “How are Kit and Ghirahim?”

 _“Let me check.”_ A minute passed. _“They’ve been taken to a prison cell and given bandages and bottles of elixir. Ghirahim is tending to Zelda’s leg now. It’s… Well, it’s still pretty bad, but getting better. They want to know how you and Vaati are doing.”_

“Well, fine if you ignore the fact that I’m about to face my mothers alone,” Ganondorf answered. He took out Vaati’s dresser entirely from the Minish’s room and brought it back to the bathroom, rather than try to open any of its tiny drawers himself. His fingers wouldn’t have fit inside them anyway. Vaati had undressed, so Ganondorf politely kept his eyes out of the sink.

“I will be better once I have some more elixir, I think,” Vaati said. “My head is still spinning.”

“You fell off my shoulder and hit the ground pretty hard.” Ganondorf glanced at himself in the mirror and saw he also looked worse for wear. As he finger-combed sand out of his hair, he said, “I wouldn’t be surprised if you got a concussion to go with all that blood loss.” He stole a glance back down at Vaati, as if he needed to keep looking at him to be sure he was really awake and breathing. “How did you even survive that?”

“I’m not sure,” Vaati answered. “A miracle from Hylia, perhaps.” He gingerly poked the red welt on his side. It looked like he had been hit with a shovel and nearly cut in half. Considering the Yiga’s arrowheads were nearly as big as he was, the comparison wasn’t far off. “I must have used some magic before I passed out.”

Ganondorf shook his head, breathing a laugh. “You’re one lucky bastard.”

“If suffering like this is lucky, I’d rather think I’m finally paying penance for my past deeds.” Vaati forced himself to get back to his feet. “I’m done.”

Ganondorf shut off the water and passed him the hand towel. After Vaati wrapped up most of himself with one corner, Ganondorf lowered his dresser to let Vaati pull out a clean set of clothes. It was another purple tunic and cap, of course. His entire wardrobe was matching sets of the same outfit since he couldn’t be bothered to sew himself anything different.

While Ganondorf put Vaati’s dresser back underneath Nabooru’s dresser, he looked up at the ceiling and asked Link, “Can you see where my mothers are?”

He didn’t get a response, so Ganondorf assumed Link was busy updating Zelda and Ghirahim about his and Vaati’s status. He returned to the bathroom to fetch Vaati, get vials of hearty and energizing elixir, and bring them back to his room. After he set Vaati down by his pillow with the elixirs, Ganondorf removed his cloak and laid down next to him.

Ganondorf heaved a sigh and asked, “I don’t suppose you have enough energy to teleport us back to Link?”

Vaati dipped his hand into the vial of energizing elixir and sipped the green liquid from his cupped fingers. “I almost just died. I’m in no state right now to even determine the extent of what is safe for me to do, magically or otherwise.”

It was as Ganondorf expected, but still disheartening. Vaati finished drinking his fill of the elixirs, so Ganondorf took the vials and put back on their corks. He set them aside on his desk and folded his arm behind his head. Vaati crawled across his pillow and curled up in the hair by his neck. Ganondorf smiled faintly.

 _“I’m back,”_ Link said. _“Ghirahim says he wants to try teleporting to you.”_

The thought made Ganondorf frown. “Don’t let him. There’s nothing he can do against my mothers, and I’d rather he stay with Kit.”

_“Are you sure? Zelda doesn’t want you to face them alone either.”_

“I have Vaati.”

“You know I won’t be any help,” the Minish murmured, nestling deeper against Ganondorf’s neck. His hair and his feather tail were still damp, making a cool spot against his warm skin.

“Still means I won’t be alone.”

_“I’ll tell Ghirahim you say no, but he will probably argue with me.”_

“Then remind him that he’s anchored to an unblessed weapon and that protecting himself and Kit is more important to me.”

Link hesitated. _“Okay,”_ he said, quieter.

Ganondorf waited for Link to return and wondered what his mothers would have to say. He knew with near complete certainty that they would try to take his Triforce as soon as he saw them, but it was another question entirely if they would try to justify themselves first or just get on with it. He didn’t know which would be worse.

 _“Ghirahim isn’t happy, but Zelda wishes you good luck. They’re also sorry that they couldn’t get to you and Vaati.”_ He paused, then added, _“I’m sorry for leaving all of you.”_

“Don’t be. I told you to run.” Ganondorf tipped his head further back against his pillows and studied the familiar texture of his ceiling. “It’s my own fault for letting Vaati get hurt.”

_“I know, but it still feels like I should be there with you.”_

“Regretting what happened isn’t going to do us any good. Just see what you can do there. You’re already keeping us in communication.”

 _“That’s true,”_ Link said, as if that fact hadn’t occurred to him. _“I should tell Impa about everything that’s happened now.”_

“Yeah.” Ganondorf was quiet for a moment. “Can you also talk to Nab for me?”

 _“I think?”_ Link caught the note of hesitation in Ganondorf’s question. _“Is there anything you want me to say to her specifically for you?”_

“No, but… I just want to make sure she’s doing okay. You and Impa haven’t talked about her at all since you figured out this telepathy thing.”

_“Oh. Sorry. I should have thought to ask about her.”_

“Don’t blame yourself. I’m just as at fault.”

_“We have been pretty distracted.”_

“Yeah.” Ganondorf sighed. “Anyway, get going. We don’t know how much longer we have until I’m summoned to meet my mothers.”

_“I’ll try to be quick so I can keep an eye on you.”_

“Thanks.” After Ganondorf’s mind went quiet, he stared up at his ceiling and tried not to dwell on his impending reunion.


	63. “Don’t keep us waiting, boy!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudo update!! We're at the last bit of preamble before things _really_ start to explode, and I can't wait to see how you'll react to how it's going to go down.
> 
> Book 2 update -- including the chapters I salvaged from the first version with the new writing I've done, I'm now back up to about 10K. With any luck, I'll be able to work in parts of some other old chapters and bump that up to 15K next week. I still don't think I'll have this done and ready to begin uploads by the time this story is done, but I will have a lot of bonus content to post in the mean time.
> 
> In case y'all haven't noticed, I've also put NMN into its own series, [Apophasis](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1927129). When book 2 is done, it will be added here. (I'm considering moving the [bonus content works](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1806355) into this series to keep them together, but I also like them organized as they are now, so we'll see what happens.)

“I didn’t think I’d see you here again,” Jarek said after he knocked and opened Ganondorf’s door. He pushed his mask to its usual spot on the side of his head and leaned on the door handle. “Did you get your sister un-petrified?”

“Yeah. Nab’s somewhere safe now.” Ganondorf cupped his hand around Vaati, making it look like he was rubbing his neck, and sat up on his bed. He had fallen half-asleep during the intervening hours he waited. Before his nap, Link had told him Nabooru was healing well and that she had become fast friends with Impa and a knight named Roam, who had taken it upon himself to help keep her company on Link and Zelda’s behalf. Link also mentioned that he asked Impa to send him a Rito messenger so he could give them help, but Ganondorf wasn’t sure what kind of help he was planning to deliver. Link disappeared without explaining further, as if having been interrupted, and Ganondorf hadn’t heard from him again since then.

“Nice,” Jarek said. “I just won a bet.”

Ganondorf rolled his eyes. “Are my mothers summoning me now?” He felt Vaati shift and settle himself down more securely on his shoulder, getting prepared for him to stand and leave.

“Yup.” Jarek came the rest of the way into Ganondorf’s room and closed the door. “I gotta ask, though – what were you doing in the Great Cliffs? I heard you got caught there with Ghirahim and some other guy.”

“We were trying sneak up on my mothers to stop them from attacking the castle.”

Jarek’s eyebrows rose, impressed. “Ah. My bosses have been talking a lot about that.”

Ganondorf raised an eyebrow. “Can you elaborate?”

Jarek shrugged. “I haven’t been given many details. I’m supposed to be part of the rear support when Twinrova leads the charge, but I’ll be long gone on a beach in Necluda before then.”

The knowledge that at least one Yiga was going to abandon the fight before it started was somehow comforting, but it did little to abate the fact that a war was on the horizon. “Do you know when the attack’s supposed to be?”

“It was supposed to be few days from now, but now we’re being told to be ready by tomorrow since you’re here.”

“Of course.” Ganondorf sighed. He ran a hand over his face and rubbed his jaw.

The two of them were quiet for a moment before Jarek asked, “Is the guy with Ghirahim supposed to be that knight you were sneaking out with?”

“Yeah,” he said, hanging his head.

“Sucks.” Jarek nodded in sympathy. “Want me to pass along any final wishes before I vamoose?”

“No. But actually…” An idea occurred to Ganondorf. “Could you get them some spare Yiga uniforms?”

“If they’re my size, probably.” Jarek tilted his head. “Why?”

“Get them out of the cell they’re in and have them come find me,” Ganondorf said. “Where do my mothers want me to meet them?”

“Out at the pit,” Jarek answered, referring to the outdoor amphitheater at the back of the Yiga hideout. “Also, fair warning – they looked pissed.”

Ganondorf pressed his lips into a thin line. “Great.” He got off his bed and picked up his cloak. Vaati scooted back against his neck and held onto locks of his hair while he to put it on.

“Good luck, dude.” Jarek opened the door again and let Ganondorf step outside first.

After they parted ways, Vaati climbed into the folds of Ganondorf’s cloak. “Maybe we still have a chance to beat them,” the Minish said, trying to sound encouraging. “If they’re back here, we should be on more equal footing.”

“Maybe.” Ganondorf tried to muster some optimism, but he saw little point in it. Even if Ghirahim and Zelda could somehow manage to rejoin him in time, Ghirahim was still limited by Zelda’s rapier and Zelda was injured. Link was stuck all the way on the Great Plateau. And Ganondorf didn’t have any of his weapons. It would be smarter for Ghirahim and Zelda to escape and leave without him. If they took Vaati, they might even be able to do something about Tempestrova before his mothers return to Gerudo Tower. He knew his friends would never do that, but it was the only plan that still seemed feasible.

The one hope Ganondorf still had was his Triforce, but since it failed him in the desert, he didn’t know if he could count on it anymore. He had spent the hours in his room trying to figure out why it didn’t work. What was different about that moment than the other times he intentionally used its power? He was still repeatedly pulling his hand into a fist, trying to go back to the Canyon Stable.

As he continued down the winding hallways to the hideout’s amphitheater exit, Ganondorf kept fighting the urge to turn around and hide in his room. If he didn’t come out willingly, the Yiga would be hard-pressed to be able to do anything about it. Even during the early days of his mothers’ ‘lessons,’ he had been too big for even the blademasters to easily manhandle him into their arena. Only Ghirahim had the strength to do so. The Yiga wouldn’t have to manhandle him now, though, if they just threatened Kit again. For all he knew, he was already being taken to the pit too. His mothers knew he was Hyrule’s princess, after all, even if the rest of the Yiga didn’t.

“Link?” Ganondorf asked under his breath. “If you’re watching me right now, I’d really like an update about Kit and Ghirahim.”

He got no answer, making Ganondorf worry about the knight too. He was a fine swordsman, so there was no reason for him to have been hurt by any of the new or old monsters on the Great Plateau. Ganondorf told himself that Link was probably focusing on Kit and Ghirahim or was still just busy with whatever took his attention earlier.

As Ganondorf crossed through the Yiga’s old festival dance room, a space that was now used for storage, he stopped at the door that led outside. He stared at its handles, but could not seem to make himself push them open. His body had become rigid.

“Gan?” Vaati said, placing his hand on his jaw. He saw the muscles in Ganondorf’s neck clenching and felt the stiffness of his shoulder beneath him. “Are you okay?”

Ganondorf swallowed hard. He realized that his pulse had picked up during his walk to these doors. His hands were trembling. There was a smell of patchouli, frankincense, and something fetid.

“Breathe, Gan. You’re holding your breath.”

Ganondorf inhaled forcefully and made himself breathe out slowly. He took another breath and counted his heartbeats with it. The sickening smell faded slightly. Then he realized that its presence at all should have been impossible. His mothers’ incense wasn’t burning in this room. It had to be his imagination, or a flashback. He blinked rapidly and reminded himself to take another deep breath.

“ _Fuck._ ” Ganondorf grimaced and closed his eyes. He understood then why his Triforce wasn’t working. He had been trying to use it to run away from his mothers. To cower in fear instead of fight. He still was.

“I don’t know if I can do this,” Ganondorf whispered. His nails dug into his palms. A painful knot was forming in his chest. “I can’t fight them, Vaati.” His face grew hot as he felt tears brimming his eyes. “I can’t…”

“You can do this,” Vaati said, tightening his hold on Ganondorf’s jaw. “You’ve slain countless monsters and taken down just as many guardians. Your mothers aren’t any more powerful than a pair of wizzrobes.”

“But they are my _mothers_ , Vaati.” Ganondorf took a step away from the door and pushed his fingers into his hair. “I can’t kill them,” he said, tugging on his scalp as he fought down his growing panic. The floor swam in his vision. “I can’t. I don’t want to hurt them.”

“Gan…” Vaati sighed, wishing words of reassurance could be as simple as spellcasting. “I don’t think they’re going to give you a choice. Your life is more important than sympathy.”

“It’s not just fucking sympathy,” Ganondorf retorted. He felt stupid to be freaking out. It should have been a black and white issue. They were murderers. They hurt him, Nabooru, and countless other people. They brought monsters back into a peaceful kingdom.

But they had been more than that once. Their tenderness when he was a child might have been an act, but it had felt true to him. He couldn’t deny it, couldn’t stop _wanting_ that side back.

There had been one day once, or an amalgamation of moments that felt like a day, when he had been small enough to still fit in their lap. He saw himself on their bed, laying back against Koume, his _adila_ , with a large book on his legs. Her chest was warm and soft behind him. Her arms cradled his sides, flipping the book’s pages. Kotake, his _adi_ , leaned against his _adila’s_ shoulder, pointing at a picture and making a comment that made Ganondorf laugh. His _adila_ gave her an exasperated smile – he felt how she would exhale through her nose and her breath puff over his hair – and responded with wry humor.

Ganondorf didn’t know back then that they had killed his birth mother. They had told him that he was supposed to have been killed, that the Gerudo chieftains believed he was a cursed child, an unwanted mutation, but his mothers saved him from infanticide and took Nabooru from his would-be killers. Only his mothers were the people who recognized him as a blessing, not an evil portent. The day after they stabbed him outside of the Temple of Time, they said it was an accident and apologized. They had mistaken him for a monster when he came out, nothing more. He hadn’t questioned them beyond that. Why would a little boy doubt the women who read him stories and saved his life?

Ganondorf and Nabooru only learned the truth of their kidnapping after Vaati appeared, and it had taken the Minish a long time to make Ganondorf concede that his mothers were not the saviors they claimed to be. Now, despite having experienced the extent of their cruelty firsthand, had heard Impa tell him stories about what his birth mother had really been like before her death, listened to Ghirahim tell him the truth about the day he was born, seen the effects of his mothers’ dark magic across Hyrule, he still was still trapped in his past memory of them like a patch of voltfruit flowers and sharp cacti. Goddess, it _hurt_. It hurt, and hurt, and hurt – so much more than words could describe. But how could he get out? Getting out would tear him apart as much as it had getting in.

“I don’t know what else I can say,” Vaati admitted, jerking Ganondorf back to the present. “Maybe we should turn back. We can—”

“No!” Ganondorf shook his head. Vaati ducked low to avoid being knocked off his shoulder. His back fell against the crates behind him and he pressed his hands into fists against his forehead again. “Then I wouldn’t deserve this damn Triforce at all.”

Vaati cautiously sat up again, trying to lean forward to better see Ganondorf’s face. “Gan, you’re braver than any Hero who’s had that thing. You don’t need to prove anything.”

“Yes, I do.” Ganondorf picked up Vaati and put him down on the stack of crates. He continued fighting back tears, bracing his hand on either side of the Minish while hung his head. “It was always going to be me against them, alone.”

“Now you are just being irrational,” Vaati said, getting back to his feet to face Ganondorf. On the stack of crates, he was almost eye level with the Gerudo. “I’m still here, and your friends are going to help.”

“How?” Ganondorf shouted, throwing out his hands. “They’re all weakened, hurt, or too far away!”

“I’m not!” Vaati answered. “I am here, with you, right now,” he said, jabbing his finger at his feet with each point, “and I still have enough strength to tell you that you can do whatever you set your mind to do. We can go out there and face your mothers now or we can go back and look for Kit and Ghirahim.”

“I don’t want to do either!” Ganondorf turned away. “I just…” He cut himself off when he heard the doors grind open on their stone hinges. He backed up against the crates.

The Yiga blademaster on the other side of the door did a double-take when he saw Ganondorf. Then he looked back over his shoulder and called, “Ganondorf’s right here!”

“Don’t keep us waiting, boy!” Koume called.

“You know better than to try our patience,” Kotake added.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time to place bets! What wild, awful things are you expecting? How do you think Gan and company will survive this? Give me your thoughts while Gan has his panic attack! :D


	64. “Get down and take cover.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Update's here! Don't have a lot to say other than I'm happy fall is here. Still making steady progress on book 2, even though I keep letting myself go down zelda wiki rabbit holes.

The sorceresses were standing in front of the edge of the amphitheater’s pit. Wooden clackers strung on ropes between the sandstone walls rattled quietly in the wind. The sun had fallen behind the Highlands, leaving only dim, paper lanterns and a red-violet glow from the pit behind them to illuminate the vast space.

Ganondorf remained petrified in the room facing the amphitheater, pressing his back against storage crates. His breath went shallow again as he stared at his mothers. They hadn’t changed at all, but of course they hadn’t. He had only been away from Karusa Valley for barely three days. He had been away twice as long during the time he was imprisoned at the castle.

These facts didn’t change the fact that his mothers still looked different somehow. Their green-toned skin and thick, grey hair was the same, as were their black silk clothes. Ganondorf decided it was their eyes. Their makeup seemed heavier than usual, compensating for new lines and dark circles. Building Vah Tempestrova had taken away even more of their original selves, it seemed. They hadn’t looked this way ten years ago. Their complexions certainly weren’t so unnatural back then.

Vaati hopped back onto Ganondorf’s shoulder. “Don’t forget to breathe,” Vaati said, ducking low. “I’ll be with you, no matter what happens.”

His reminder made Ganondorf inhale sharply. Exhaling shakily, he took a step forward, and then another. His cloak rustled around his calves. It was cooler outside of the storage room. The descending evening swept out the sun’s remaining heat, chilling the air. It settled over his skin and brought out a tremor he blamed on the cold alone. Ganondorf stopped a few feet away from his mothers. He remained standing.

“There we go,” Koume said. She stared at Ganondorf with a severe expression, mouth puckered into a thin line.

“Was that really so hard?” Kotake asked, jeering.

Ganondorf clenched his jaw. He noticed with faint surprise that he was almost a head and a half taller than his mothers, and he realized he had never noticed before because he had been required to kneel before them ever since he broke six-foot. He would not allow himself to kneel again. If he accomplished nothing else, that was one, tiny goal he could focus on. It was all he needed to steel his expression despite his racing heart.

Koume’s perpetually sour expression became a glare when she saw Ganondorf wasn’t going to bow before her and her sister. “So, you’ve finally grown a spine,” she stated.

“Did you return to usurp our position, as Ghirahim hoped?” Kotake asked.

“Or did the princess really delude you with her false promises?”

Ganondorf’s eyes met Koume’s glare. His hardened expression broke imperceptibly into grief. “His promises weren’t _lies_.” The underlying accusation hung heavy, words weighted without anger.

Kotake had no quip that time. Her leer twisted into uncertainty.

“How disappointing.” Koume rolled back her shoulders. She spoke more quietly. “We had high hopes for you, you know.”

Ganondorf felt his chest tighten. His gaze fell. “I know. I…” He faltered. His eyes blindly searched the sand at their feet, thoughts falling back into memories. A sense of urgency struck him, like he was about to drop off a ledge, and he didn’t know if he should take a step back or leap off. His breathing staggered.

Before his courage could fail him, Ganondorf choked out, “I didn’t want this. Any of it. I listened to you, did as you said, _trying_ to… to please you or just survive. I don’t know.” He pulled back up his gaze to meet his mothers’ eyes. “I know you think you’re doing what needs to be done, but it’s wrong. I can’t let you attack the castle.”

His mothers glanced at each other. Koume faced him first, distain once again replacing the quiet that had overtaken her. “You really are deluded if you think you can stop us.”

“The king sits on a throne built on the broken backs of our sisters,” Kotake said, gesturing towards the back of the amphitheater, where the castle lay beyond the snow-capped Highlands.

“The Hyrules were never supposed to regain their power after Calamity Ganon destroyed them.”

“We can end this war before it starts if you give us the Triforce,” Kotake continued, using her soft voice now, the one she used when she was trying to be nice. It hurt Ganondorf more than if she had just stabbed him with an ice spear. “It doesn’t have to hurt. We can even offer your little friends the same mercy.”

“If you don’t cooperate,” Koume said, “we can’t guarantee they’ll live through what we need to do.”

“With or without the Triforce, we will rebuild this land. Make it the way it was always supposed to be.” Kotake held out her hands. “So, you can give us your piece willingly…”

“Or we will take it,” Koume finished.

Ganondorf wanted to say yes, and he hated himself for it. The option to just let his mothers get what they wanted was so tempting, it hurt. He still hated his Triforce piece anyway. If he could betray everyone in the castle, he wouldn’t need to fight anyone. He wouldn’t have to hurt his mothers. His friends wouldn’t need to be further harmed either. Everyone could be fine if they just peacefully surrendered.

But the fact was, it wasn’t true. No matter what happened in this moment, someone was going to get hurt. And Ganondorf’s hand was going to cause it. All he could do was try to control the amount of damage.

With that thought grounding him, Ganondorf took a step back, bent his knees, and shifted his weight off his heels. He held up his empty hands in a defensive position. Under his breath, he whispered to Vaati, “Get down and take cover.”

Vaati hesitated, but they both knew the Minish’s safety would distract Ganondorf. He couldn’t have full maneuverability if he had to worry about keeping his shoulder out of their firing range. Vaati slid down the back of his cloak.

When Ganondorf felt him land, he spoke with more confidence than he felt. “Go ahead and try.”

His mothers attacked at the same time, slinging fire and ice together. Ganondorf leapt to the side. His feet skidded on the sandy ground. He faced them again. He lunged forward, but had to roll aside as frozen spears erupted beneath him. His mothers were close enough to the pit that he couldn’t get a good angle to get behind them. Their spellcasting prevented him from getting any closer. He could let himself get burned and frostbitten in a headlong charge, but he was more likely to end up falling into the pit than to take either of them down. His last option left was to try to turn tail and flee, but he was pretty sure that if he did, his Triforce would let him die.

A fire whip caught Ganondorf around his ankle. As it jerked his foot forward, sending him reeling backwards, Koume said, “You shouldn’t have stopped doing as you were told, boy!”

Points of ice erupted to catch Ganondorf’s fall, sinking into his back. Frost spread behind him and coated his shoulders. “This didn’t have to hurt,” Kotake said.

“Now you’ll have to suffer for it.” Koume held out her hand and Kotake interlaced her fingers with her sister.

As Ganondorf struggled to break free of the ice, his mothers lifted their arms. Red-violet light sparked between their palms.

“Hey, old hags!” Zelda’s voice rang out into the amphitheater. Half-limping while holding onto Ghirahim’s shoulders, he and the demon ran to Ganondorf. In the royal heir’s hand was the master sword, and slung across his back were Ganondorf’s twin blades. Both Zelda and the Ghirahim were in Yiga uniforms, but they had removed their masks. “You’re the only ones who’re going to suffer today!”

Ganondorf craned his neck back to see them. “Kit! Ghirahim!”

Kotake threw a hail of ice. “Wait your turn, girlie!”

“We’ll take your Triforce next!” Koume said.

Ghirahim stepped in front of Zelda and shielded him with his back, transforming instantly into his true, crystalline form. The ice shards shattered against his onyx skin.

“Get yourselves out of here!” Ganondorf shouted, straining against the ice holding him. It tugged at his flesh and cracked, but remained solid.

“Not without you!” Zelda and Ghirahim both retorted. They shared an annoyed glance at each other.

Koume shot a fireball at them. “Stay out of our way!”

Before the blast could hit, an ice arrow fell from the sky and extinguished it. Another arrow fell on Koume, and before everyone below could look up, fire arrows hit Kotake and the ice holding Ganondorf.

Above them, Link stashed his royal bow and unfurled his predecessor’s paraglider. A Rito circled overhead and landed somewhere in the Highlands. _“Sorry I’m late,”_ Link thought while he glided down. _“I was barely light enough to get a ride, and let me just say, flying is terrifying.”_

Ganondorf gaped at him for only a moment before he grinned. “Fuck yes!” He twisted out of the remaining, half-melted ice holding him. Frost still coated his back, but it was currently keeping his injuries from bleeding too freely. Running to Zelda and Ghirahim while his mothers recovered from Link’s arrows, he called, “Throw me my weapons!”

Ghirahim used his magic to take the master sword and one of his twin blades from Zelda and throw them in Ganondorf’s direction. Zelda unsheathed the remaining twin blade for himself to wield.

Once Ganondorf caught them, he turned on his heel and faced his mothers again. Zelda and Ghirahim came up and stood by his right. Link landed to his left and swapped out the paraglider for his royal bow. Holding the master sword in front of himself, Ganondorf called, “You’re outnumbered now! Stop all this before we have to hurt you!”

“Don’t be so cocky!” Koume answered.

“We would never be outnumbered here,” Kotake added. “The entirety of the Yiga clan lies behind you.”

“And we brought our ultimate weapon!” Koume once again laced her fingers with Kotake. Red-violet light crackled between their hands. The ground rumbled. Rising from the pit behind them, Vah Tempestrova burst from its depths. The divine beast slithered out and around the sorceresses, its entire length encircling the pit’s perimeter. Its heads reared back and hissed a mechanical screech.

“Oh, shitballs…” Ganondorf’s stomach dropped at the sight.

“We can still do this,” Zelda said, tightening his hold on Ganondorf’s spare twin blade.

“Your optimism is suicidal,” Ghirahim retorted. “We need to get to Link and leave, now!”

 _“More help is on the way,”_ Link said. _“Vaati, where are you?”_

“Right here!” Vaati called, transforming himself into his Hylian form to run over between Ganondorf and Link. “If one of you can get me inside their beast, I think I can take control.”

Link unhooked the Sheikah slate and passed it to Ganondorf. _“You do it.”_ He lifted his bow. _“I can handle your mothers.”_

Ganondorf hesitated, so Zelda said, “Just go. He’s got ice arrows and I got fire magic. Ghirahim can shield us.”

Ganondorf looked at each of his four companions. Zelda and Link looked determined, Ghirahim was clearly anxious, and Vaati’s expression was grim. Aches to come and a nameless horror filled him as his Triforce mark warmed. He tightened his hold on the master sword. It pulsed once with cool energy – Fi’s way to silently reassure him that she was still with him too.

“Okay,” Ganondorf said. “As many times as it takes, we’ll get this right.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I couldn't resist giving them an Avengers' style line up. XD I was going to draw them all together, but that didn't happen, so I hope the mental image is good enough.


	65. “Eyes on your own problems, Princess!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can't sleep after some stress dreams, so here I am, posting today's update. I wrote the following chapters while listening to [this playlist on youtube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9yn1DpZkHQ) (a Cyberpunk 2077 mix), so check it out if you want to get a feel for the mood I was going for. Normally I write to LoZ remixes, indie music, game osts, or movie soundtracks, but this fight would not have come together so easily without the epic base drops in that playlist.

Ganondorf hooked the Sheikah slate onto his belt and took Vaati’s hand. The Minish returned to his true size in the Gerudo’s palm. After Ganondorf moved him to his shoulder, he ran at his mothers’ divine beast with the master sword raised.

“You can’t stop us!” Koume shouted, cracking her fire whip.

Kotake followed with a torrent of ice shards. “Nothing will keep us from taking down the castle!”

Ganondorf dodged the whip and hail. While his mothers batted away Zelda and Link’s retaliation, Vah Tempestrova’s twin heads snapped at Ganondorf. He leapt aside to avoid the first head and tucked into a headlong roll to avoid the second. Phantom pains burned and faded with every near miss. He had lost an arm at one point, his head at another, both bitten off by the divine beast. His heart and stomach ached, having been impaled by its massive fangs. It reared back its heads and screeched again, firing lasers from their mouths. His skin prickled with pins and needles, an echo of sizzling flesh. Ganondorf deflected one blast with the master sword. The other exploded at his feet, throwing him off the ground.

“Gan!” Zelda cried. An ice spear then flew at the royal heir, but Ghirahim knocked it down.

“Eyes on your own problems, Princess!” the demon snapped. “Ganny, hurry up and get inside that abomination!”

Ganondorf landed hard on his back. He rolled over before Vah Tempestrova could bite him in half – he felt the ghost of his spine snapping – and jumped to his feet.

“Use the slate’s runes,” Vaati said, shouting to make himself heard over the din of battle. Fireballs exploded against walls of ice. Hail pelted the ground beneath their companions’ feet. “One of them has to be useful!”

Ganondorf ran to avoid a swing of the divine beast’s tail. It hit the ground with a crack like thunder and tossed up a cloud of dust. He coughed, half-winded by the memory of his ribcage caving in, and continued running. Vah Tempestrova’s two heads came down to bite at him again. He sheathed the master sword and unhooked the Sheikah slate. Flicking to the runes, he tapped for a square remote bomb and dropped it. As one of the divine beast’s jaws snapped behind him, Ganondorf activated the bomb.

The head recoiled from the blast. It didn’t seem to take any damage, but it interrupted Vah Tempestrova’s attacks long enough for Ganondorf to get a better look at the divine beast. There was no obvious entrance anywhere along its long body, no landings to climb onto, no terminals he could tap the Sheikah slate against. Its entire body looked like a stalmoblin spine held together only by tangled tubes of Malice. When it reared its heads back and screeched again, Ganondorf saw dark openings at the back of its mouths.

“So that’s how it is, huh?” Ganondorf readied another remote bomb. “Come and get some, ugly!” Its heads lunged at him. He lobbed the bomb at one and detonated it. While one head halted, the other head continued forward. Ganondorf pointed the slate’s camera at its mouth and activated the stasis rune. Yellow light encased its jaw and immediately began blinking. Running forward, Ganondorf jumped inside the moment before stasis broke.

The tunnel inside rocked and turned vertical. Like the outside, the inside of its neck was made of hollow, ancient stone vertebrae. Between each ring, countless tubes pulsed with red-violet Malice like skinned muscles. Its dark glow reflected off Ganondorf and his clothes, painting him in alien shades. Ganondorf put the Sheikah slate back onto his belt and caught the edge of one ring before he fell to the bottom. His knees hit the tubes of Malice and burned. Vah Tempestrova’s following shriek echoed painfully through the tunnel. The ledge he clung onto spun, rotating like a wheel in the Malice as the divine beast moved again. Ganondorf lost his grip and tumbled down.

Ganondorf broke his fall in a roll. The vertebrae rings kept rotating beneath his feet. Struggling to keep his balance as he jumped over the Malice-filled gaps, Ganondorf hurried to the flower-shaped Main Control Unit. It currently hung from the ceiling, over two dozen feet above him. The ring it was on had rotated a hundred-eighty degrees. As Vah Tempestrova turned sharply, it rotated down to one side before rolling up again.

“Fuck, how are we supposed to get up there?” Ganondorf asked Vaati.

“Try to bomb or stasis other parts of its body?” Vaati answered, gripping his cloak. “I don’t know.”

It was the only idea they had, short of waiting for the Main Control Unit to roll down on its own. Ganondorf used stasis on the vertebrae he was standing on and took out a round and square remote bomb. Dropping them into the Malice tubes in front of him while the paused floor rapidly blinked, he backed up onto another ring and detonated them. The floor built up enough kinetic energy to jerk away from the blast.

“That’ll work.” Switching targets, Ganondorf used stasis on the vertebrae holding the Main Control Unit and bombed it again. When it released, it moved the terminal slightly lower. He froze the floor again. Before he could summon more bombs, guardian scouts scuttled up from the tail end of the tunnel and fired laser blasts at him.

“Dammit!” Ganondorf ducked and rolled. He put back the Sheikah slate and pulled out his weapons. He blocked a laser blast and felt time slow down. He cut down the first guardian scout to approach him and knocked aside the second before time returned to normal, but he still didn’t feel fast enough. “I don’t have time to deal with you shit cans!”

Ganondorf couldn’t hear how the battle outside was going, but he knew based on how Vah Tempestrova was jerking about that his companions were now having to avoid it and his mothers’ attacks. Ghirahim would only be able to block so many blows for Zelda and Link. The royal heir’s injured leg would eventually fail him, and the knight would run out of arrows. If he and Vaati couldn’t get the divine beast out of commission soon, his mothers would win.

“Let me take over,” Vaati said, jumping off Ganondorf’s shoulder to slide down the back of his cloak. “Focus on getting the terminal down!”

“What are you doing?” Ganondorf retorted, fearing for the Minish.

“Helping you!” Vaati landed on top of one of the scouts. He swung himself into the exposed wires beneath its domed head. The scout’s bladed arm abruptly froze mid-swing. Its red-violet glow flickered and went dark. With a flash, it lit back up and became bright blue. It pulled back its blade and struck the scout beside it. While it continued attacking its nearby comrades, its eye targeted farther scouts and blew off their heads.

“Holy shit!” Ganondorf stared at the commandeered guardian for a second, amazed, before he backed out of the ruckus. He took back out the Sheikah slate and punted a scout. While Vaati kept the scouts’ attention on himself, Ganondorf continued working to bring down the Main Control Unit. He lost progress several times as the entirety of Vah Tempestrova turned and slithered around the amphitheater, but slowly he got it down enough to access it.

“Vaati, time to take over a bigger beast!” Ganondorf grabbed the terminal and held onto it. Even if it did roll go back up to the ceiling now, he would go up with it.

The commandeered scout scurried over to Ganondorf. Vaati climbed out of its neck and into Ganondorf’s hand. The scout continued auto firing on its remaining brethren.

“Put the Sheikah slate against the terminal,” Vaati said, switching to his Hylian form. He tucked himself between it and Ganondorf.

Ganondorf knelt down behind him. Bracing Vaati with one arm, he used his other hand to place the slate on the terminal. Both lit up blue, communicating with each other. Before Vah Tempestrova could reject the slate’s control, Vaati swiped the glowing lines.

The entirety of Vah Tempestrova halted. With a shudder, it resumed moving. Vaati furiously continued swiping and tapping at the terminal, fighting Twinrova’s connection to their divine beast. The tubes of Malice spasmed. The entire structure of vertebrae around them groaned under the strain of conflicting orders.

“Come on, Vaati,” Ganondorf urged. The floor they were on rotated ninety degrees, but he gripped the terminal with both legs and kept a hold on the Minish.

“Let me focus!” Vaati answered. Then he inhaled sharply, flinching under Ganondorf’s hand as he saw something outside the divine beast through its eyes. “No!”

“What?” The nameless horror Ganondorf had felt since the beginning of their fight rose back to the surface of his phantom pains. It had gone ignored because he couldn’t connect it to a physical injury, but it clenched his lungs just as surely. He had failed to prevent something from happening.

“Kit—”

A giant force collided into the side of Vah Tempestrova opposite to Vaati and Ganondorf and shook the entire tunnel like an earthquake. Tubes of Malice broke under the impact and began spraying inside. Another hit rocked the divine beast and sent it skidding over the ground. Several vertebrae cracked. Part of its body slid over the pit and dipped down, falling in, before Vaati got it to catch itself.

“What the fuck is doing that?” Something like a meteor crashed into the top of the divine beast’s body. More tubes disconnected. Ganondorf grimaced as droplets of Malice hit his cloak and burned through to his skin.

“Kit!” Vaati answered. “He—” Another crash interrupted him. “We need to get out before he knocks us into the pit!”

“Shit!” Ganondorf picked up Vaati under his waist and let go of the terminal. They half-rolled, half-fell down the side of the tunnel. Vaati returned to Minish size and Ganondorf moved him to his shoulder. Bang after bang, the divine beast shuddered and groaned. The few guardian scouts left scuttled across the wall to the snapping tubes of Malice and cracks in its vertebrae, but the attacks were causing more damage than they could repair.

Ganondorf ran back to the neck he came in through. Both heads were pressed to the ground, struggling to not slide farther into the pit. Another crash. The floor jerked back beneath Ganondorf’s feet. He stumbled and barely stayed upright. The tunnel began pitching beneath Ganondorf as he kept leaping over the throbbing bands of Malice. A high-pitched howl followed as the floor began sliding farther and faster. Vah Tempestrova’s tail fell. Its heads were quickly slipping down after it.

Ganondorf jumped past the divine beast’s fangs just as its two heads slid over the edge. Its length tumbled against the walls of the pit. Seconds later, it fell with a deafened crash. Ganondorf rolled onto his back and flinched at the sight above him. “Oh, fuck!”

A golden, three-tailed fox the size of Vah Tempestrova was snarling and spitting at Vah Tempestrova at the bottom of the pit. Its fur stood on end, burning with white fire. When it turned its head and faced Ganondorf, its eyes shone like molten stars.

“Ganny, get back!” Ghirahim shouted. “Kit doesn’t recognize us!”

“What?” Ganondorf’s head whipped around and he stared stupidly at the demon. The ground shook. He looked back up to see the giant fox baring its fangs in a lunge. He only had time to lift up his arms in defense before an ice arrow struck its nose. The fox snarled and turned to Link, who readied another arrow.

“Get over here, you fool!” Ghirahim shouted, waving him over to his side. “While he’s still distracted!”

It was then Ganondorf noticed that his mothers were on the ground beside Ghirahim. Koume was laying on her back. Kotake was bent over her, body shaking with sobs.

“ _Va Me-Éshi_ , no…” The phantom horror he had felt before became overshadowed by the depth of his emotion now. Ganondorf stumbled in his haste to get up and run.


	66. “You’re hurt inside there, aren’t you?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the wait! My bf has a flat tire and it's been a struggle figuring out how to get it fixed while also making sure he's still able to get rides to work, so updating this yesterday completely slipped my mind.

Sprinting over to Ghirahim and his mothers, Ganondorf knelt down and asked, “What happened?” Behind him, Link kept the giant, burning-gold fox distracted with ice arrows.

“Kotake got a lucky shot,” Ghirahim seethed, throwing a glare in the sorceress’s direction. “An ice spear straight through Kit’s chest. He transformed into that _thing_ ,” he continued, looking back at the burning-gold fox, “killed Koume, and nearly killed you inside their divine beast.”

Ganondorf paled as he looked back at his mothers. Koume’s neck was bent at an unnatural angle. Kotake was sobbing over her body, still begging for her to wake up. It was a sleep no magic or fairy tonic could reverse.

Vaati poked his head out of Ganondorf’s cloak. “We have to be able to bring Kit back to his senses,” he said, though he sounded more terrified than certain. “It was self-defense. If he realizes the danger’s passed, he should return to normal.”

“Does that look like a beast who wants to calm down?” Ghirahim retorted, gesturing at the fox still chasing the knight. “Look at him attack Link! If the princess would have recognized anyone, it would have been him!”

“Link’s shooting him!” Vaati argued back. “If we stop—”

“Then he’ll go find something else to attack.”

“No—”

“Both of you, shut up!” Ganondorf said. His hands were pulled into hard fists. He latched onto his anger like a lifeline, as it was the only thing holding him above his despair. “Ghirahim, get my mothers inside. I’m going to help Link.”

Ghirahim glared at Ganondorf, but his expression held more fear than fury. “You’re going to get yourself killed.”

Ganondorf thrust his marked hand at Ghirahim. “I already have today. I’ll die a thousand more times if I need to.”

“If it’s a thing that can’t be done,” Ghirahim said more quietly, pleading, “you’ll be here into the end of time.”

“Then pray it can be done.” Ganondorf got back to his feet and faced the burning-gold fox. Link was running around the pit, barely staying ahead of the fox’s teeth. Only ice arrows to its paws and nose kept it from catching up to the young knight.

Ganondorf cupped his hands around his mouth. “Kit!” He ran to intercept between Link and the burning-gold fox. “We’re your friends!” The fox continued charging.

 _“Gan, watch out!”_ Link shot at the fox’s nose, but missed.

Lifting his arms with only a moment to spare, a paw as big as his chest kicked Ganondorf. He flew backwards and skidded across the ground. The blow was only as bad as one of Ghirahim’s when the demon had been at full strength, but it was still enough to leave him winded.

 _“Zelda can’t seem to hear us,”_ Link said as he continued running. Even through telepathy, he sounded out of breath. _“I’ve been trying to get through to him this whole time, but he won’t respond at all.”_

“Fuck.” Ganondorf didn’t want to hurt Zelda, but with the master sword heavy on his belt, he realized defeating him might be their only option. He didn’t know how else they would get him to stop attacking them long enough to listen.

“What we need is the Ocarina of Time,” Vaati muttered.

“Why?” Ganondorf asked. He remembered the stories about its musical power, but it would be no help to them now. If the ocarina hadn’t disappeared due to the passage of time, it was likely stuck at the castle.

“I was thinking Zelda’s Lullaby would probably calm down Kit.”

“Well, tell me if you see any magical instruments laying around.” Ganondorf picked up the Sheikah slate and checked its inventory just in case, but it only had weapons and the like. He summoned a knight’s bow and the slate’s stash of electric arrows. If ice arrows barely had any effect on the burning-gold fox, he figured a different element was worth a shot.

“Kit!” Ganondorf called to try to get his attention. The burning-gold fox didn’t even turn its head, so Ganondorf shot an arrow at its shoulder. “Stop chasing your best friend and listen to me!”

As the arrow sparked in its fiery fur, the fox halted and snarled at Ganondorf. The inhuman look in its solid white eyes took him back, but he didn’t let it daunt him.

“That’s right, give him a break and try me out for size!” Ganondorf shot it again, this time in the chest. He felt a moment of regret when the fox charged at him, but he embraced his flight response to lend him speed. With his longer legs, he was already having an easier time staying ahead of the fox’s teeth and paws.

 _“Do you have a plan?”_ Link asked, retreating behind an outcrop of rock.

“Uh, yeah, don’t get bitten or stepped on.”

 _“You can’t outlast him like this.”_  
“What would you have us do?” Ganondorf asked, nailing a shot on the fox’s nose. “Run and leave him here?” He continued running and shot the fox again. “These walls aren’t so tall that he can’t climb out and get into the Highlands.”

_“Maybe the snow would clear his head?”_

“He would just find something else to fight out there.”

_“Better a monster than us.”_

“But better us than another person,” Ganondorf retorted, thinking of Koume. He pushed his _adila_ back out of his mind. He couldn’t think about her now, couldn’t think about her neck and his _adi’s_ sobbing and the painful clench in his chest, not when he still had to save Zelda from whatever he had become.

Link didn’t have a response. Ganondorf shot the burning-gold fox’s leg to give himself more room. They continued circling the pit. The sound of Ganondorf’s feet hitting the ground were drowned out by the thunder of the fox’s paws, and above it all was his own labored breathing. He couldn’t keep running. That much he knew. But he couldn’t kill Zelda. Even if he could subdue the fox without lethally injuring him, his gut told him it wouldn’t work. When had a frightened animal ever backed down after being hurt?

Thinking that he would probably regret this, Ganondorf threw down his bow, skid to a stop, and turned to face the fox. He held his arms out by his sides. “I won’t fight you anymore!”

Though he hadn’t expected the burning-gold fox to stop, he was still unprepared to meet the force of its jaws clamping over his shoulder. The fox shook him like a rag doll. Vaati flew off his other shoulder. The fox whipped its neck and threw Ganondorf against one of the sandstone walls of the amphitheater.

Ganondorf momentarily blacked out from the hit. His vision spun. The teeth marks on his chest and back began bleeding. His head throbbed. One of his lungs began filling with blood. He gasped a wheezing breath and blinked up at the burning-gold fox. It slowly stalked closer to him.

 _“Gan!”_ Link stood up from his hiding spot and readied his bow.

“Stay… back…” Ganondorf panted, weakly waving the knight off. He faced the fox again. The heat from its radiant fur felt like a scorching desert sun. “You know me, Kit… Please.”

The burning-gold fox stopped before Ganondorf and growled. When Ganondorf made no move, its growls quieted, but continued. Ganondorf remained still and continued wheezing. The fox’s growling stopped. Its head cocked. Slowly, it lowered its nose and sniffed Ganondorf’s wounds. Its nose was as big as Ganondorf’s face. The fox’s warm breath blew over him like a humid breeze.

“I smell like shit, don’t I?” Ganondorf said, laughing into a cough. He covered his mouth and kept coughing.

The burning-gold fox flinched away and growled. Ganondorf stopped coughing when exhaustion overtook him. His hand came away covered in blood. The growling halted.

“Gonna drown in my own blood… if I don’t drink an elixir,” Ganondorf said, lifting his face to look into the fox’s molten eyes. “I can get you one too. You’re hurt… inside there, aren’t you, Kit?”

Zelda made a whimpering sound. Hesitantly, he bent forward and licked Ganondorf’s chest. The Gerudo winced and sucked air through his teeth. Zelda shied back. His tongue was just under scalding temperature and had painfully tugged on the puncture wounds left by his teeth. His ears folded down and his three tails curled beneath him.

Ganondorf smiled ruefully. “I’m okay.”

Zelda whimpered again. He cautiously lowered his head once more and nosed the Sheikah slate. His muzzle felt like a hot towel when it brushed his arm.

“Right.” Ganondorf swallowed thickly against the iron-taste of blood coating his mouth and throat. He didn’t know what was keeping Zelda from changing back, but if he was lucid enough to recognize the Sheikah slate, he was no longer a threat. Ganondorf took the slate off his belt. While he summoned a fairy tonic, he dully noticed that his Triforce mark was glowing. The bottom left triangle was the brightest section, and its entirety almost seemed to be floating just above his skin. He put away his questions about it and focused on drinking the fairy tonic. In three gulps, his wounds closed. His chest still felt like it was half full of blood, but he could breathe more easily now.

Ganondorf lifted his hand to pet Zelda’s muzzle, but the burning-gold fox abruptly turned and growled. Link stopped where he stood behind him and held up his hands.

“Hey, hey,” Ganondorf said soothingly to Zelda, sitting himself up straighter. “It’s okay. He’s your friend too. Don’t you remember Link?”

Zelda’s growl faltered. His head tilted at the knight and he blinked, as if it was a struggle to make his molten eyes focus. Then his eyes widened and his ears folded back again. He laid himself down on the ground in a nonthreatening position.

Smiling sadly, Link signed, _“You’re forgiven. You just didn’t recognize us, right? We look so different now, so much smaller.”_

Zelda only responded by pressing himself harder against the ground.

Ganondorf glanced at his shoulder. Realizing that the Minish had vanished, he asked, “Where’s Vaati?” He looked over towards the spot Zelda had caught him and searched the ground.

“Over here,” Vaati answered, his small voice barely audible. Link walked over to a tiny spot of purple in the dirt and gingerly picked him up. The mark on the back of the knight’s hand was also glowing now. As Link carried him over to Ganondorf, Vaati said, “I could use an elixir. I cushioned my fall with magic, but it was still a hard landing.”

Zelda whimpered guiltily while Ganondorf took out another fairy tonic. “He’ll be okay, Kit,” he said, rubbing his cheek under one of his giant, furry ears. Zelda’s ear flicked in response, but continued lying flat. Link passed Vaati to Ganondorf so he could help him drink the tonic. While he did so, Zelda lifted his head off his paws and looked around the amphitheater.

 _“Ghirahim’s inside the hideout,”_ Link said, in answer to his searching gaze. _“We stopped Ganondorf’s mothers. You destroyed their divine beast.”_

Zelda’s ears perked up in surprise. Then they slowly lowered as a human-like, thoughtful expression overtook his features. His ears folded back again as he pieced together what happened while he was feral. He hid his face under his paws and whimpered.

Ganondorf sighed. “You weren’t yourself, Kit.” The reassurance was as much for himself as it was for the royal heir, but it didn’t help the wounds in his chest or Zelda’s.

Vaati looked over the three of them before he turned his attention back to Link. “Go make sure Ghirahim is okay with Kotake and see if you can get an update about that help you mentioned.”

Link nodded and jogged off without a word.

Turning back to Zelda, Vaati switched into his Hylian form. “Let’s see if we can get you back to normal now, all right?”

Zelda removed his right paw from his muzzle, but continued looking guilty.

“Come on, berating yourself isn’t helping anyone.” Vaati stepped up to Zelda’s paw, which was nearly bigger than he was, and laid his hand on top. Zelda’s fur was still burning, but it was with the heat of a hot spring rather than a bonfire now. Glowing through the flames was Zelda’s Triforce mark, steadily shining just as brightly as Link’s and Ganondorf’s. Vaati moved his hand to its center and closed his eyes.

“Focus with me,” Vaati said, endeavoring to hold his voice calm and steady. It briefly sickened him, how easily he connected with the Triforce’s power, how hard it was to fight the temptation to siphon some for himself. He felt it like a blinding beacon in the center of a maelstrom, an illusion of salvation. The last time he had vied for such light was what had turned him into demon. It was only his princess’ wish on the mage’s cap that had saved him from his demonic half, not his own skill or willpower. Without another magic cap to restore Zelda’s true form, Vaati didn’t know how he would help him through this.

Mentally reviewing everything he knew about shapeshifting, Vaati improvised an idea. “This strength has filled your body, but it all comes from this point,” he said, pressing his hand more firmly on Zelda’s paw. “It flows in one direction, out and through you. You know what it feels like to call upon your magic. Let go of it. Close its opening and let that power fade away. As it fades, think about shrinking back into your true form.”

Zelda removed his other paw from his muzzle and closed his eyes with Vaati. He grimaced as he cut himself off from his Triforce’s power. The gold flames across his fur slowly died down. His grimace became a snarling wince. He started whimpering as his monstrous body weakened but didn’t change.

“Kit, don’t fight it,” Vaati said, growing worried. “You have to remember your real self, not just let go of this form. Don’t you want to be you again?”

Ganondorf watched Zelda’s struggle and had a grim realization. “He doesn’t like his real body. He wasn’t born the way he wanted to be.”

Zelda keened louder. His claws dug into the ground.

“We can’t change that now!” Vaati tightened his hold on Zelda. “You’re still hurt under all that fur, and we’d need to create an entirely different spell regardless.”

Ganondorf sat forward and put his hand on Zelda’s other paw. “C’mon, Kit. You can do this. Your real self isn’t wrong. No matter what anyone says, no matter how you look, you still have a man’s body _because_ it’s yours. Even if you want to change it to fit you better, don’t give it up entirely.” He pushed his fingers into Zelda’s fur, gripping his paw. “I can’t hold you like this.”

His words were the last bit of encouragement Zelda needed. In a burst of white light, the burning-gold fox vanished. In its place was the royal heir, lying face down with a hole clean through his torso.

“Oh fuck!” Ganondorf hadn’t quite believed that Zelda was really still hurt, so he scrambled to grab the tonic Vaati had only taken a few droplets from while Vaati rolled Zelda onto his back. Ganondorf helped Zelda sit up. Vaati used what little magic he had left to begin closing his wound. Zelda’s grip was too weak to hold the tonic’s bottle, so Ganondorf kept his hand around his. He choked on the first few sips, but as Vaati and the tonic’s magic took hold, drinking the rest became easier.

“Thank you,” Zelda croaked when he finished. He rested his head against Ganondorf’s chest. “I’m sorry. I think… I just want to stay here for a minute.”

“You can do that.” Ganondorf readjusted himself so he could sit more comfortably against the sandstone wall with Zelda in his arms. “Link and Ghirahim are going to take care of everything now.”

Zelda nodded tiredly. “And then we can go home?”

“Yeah. And then we can go home,” Ganondorf repeated, struck by the thought that the castle did feel like home now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, we've made it through the climax. The rest of the chapters here on out are just wrapping up loose threads before we get to the final ending.


	67. “I’m sorry.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudo update! There were a lot of chapters where I could have used "I'm sorry" as the title, but I waited specifically for this chapter to use it.

Ganondorf cried for the first time after his _adila_ died while he was looking for a clean outfit. It was the morning of their second day in Karusa Valley, and he was on his knees, sobbing over an open dresser drawer, because he found a black shirt and storm-patterned pants. He had them for stealth practice, but he remembered wearing them during a day he had particularly pleased his mothers, and it was the first time he let himself think about the loss of his _adila_ in the thirty-six hours since her body had been moved to her room.

The ‘lesson’ that day hadn’t been particularly painful – it had been more of a challenging puzzle, getting through a maze filled with black lizalfos and guardian stalkers without being noticed. During his fourth attempt, he got sick of trying to navigate the maze himself, so he snuck up on a stalker and managed to get up on top of its head, its blind spot. His mothers doubled-over laughing when he figured out how to whistle just right to make the stalker go where he wanted. The stalker’s head still spun him around in circles while it kept trying to find the source of his whistle, making him dizzy, but he found it just as funny as his mothers. He actually got a decent way through the maze too before a lizalfos noticed him and ruined the fun.

The memory had struck Ganondorf like a physical blow, the knowledge that he would never be able to laugh like that with his mothers again. He hated how clearly he remembered the moment, despite how precious it was. It reminded him that he lost just as much as he gained with his freedom. It made him wish he never met Zelda, and he hated himself for thinking that.

His eyes were burning with his tears. It felt like he was choking on a rock lodged at the bottom of his throat. His sobs shook his chest. His hands painfully gripped the front of his drawer. He couldn’t get out the thought that he had failed his mothers. If he had tried harder to talk them out of their plans, tried to humor their hate for Hyrule, better played the part of their son, he might not have lost them. If he had just been what they wanted, no one would have had to die.

It didn’t matter that his mothers were responsible for their own choices, that he had given them more chances than they deserved, and that he deserved more than they had ever given him. He could only hear his conscience screaming at him that it was his fault. _His fault_ for giving up on them, for tricking himself into thinking he could hate them. They wanted so much, could have done so much for Hyrule. They could have together. His mothers just wouldn’t believe it could have been done under Hylian rule. He couldn’t stop himself from regretting that final fight. He could have kept repeating it, could have worked faster to control their divine beast and intervene. If he hadn’t let Zelda get hurt and turn into a monster, he could have saved them. Why had he been willing to die a thousand times to save Zelda and not his mothers?

Ganondorf kept mentally beating himself until he couldn’t stand his running nose. He left his dresser and wiped his face off in the bathroom. He kept crying over the sink, but made himself drink a glass of water. It helped slow his tears. His shuddering gasps slowed and evened into shaky breathing. When he was able to take a deep breath and exhale without it catching in his chest, he splashed his face with cold water. His eyes still felt hot. He rested his hands on the edge of the sink for a full minute, still breathing deeply, and let the water drip down his nose and chin.

When Ganondorf returned to his room, he sat on the edge of his bed and rested his forehead on the palms of his hands. He considered going back to bed.

Ganondorf wasn’t needed anywhere. Ghirahim had taken temporary control the hideout and cast out all Yiga members who didn’t want to honor the change in leadership. Those who remained were being offered probationary amnesty by Chief Saburi. She was working with Ghirahim through Rito messengers to bring in her forces and take permanent ownership of the hideout. They were also in communication with Impa through Link’s telepathy. Her Sheikah agents were due to arrive within the next day or two to thoroughly inspect the base, seize Twinrova’s research, and remove unwanted enchantments. They would also be necessary to stamp out any remaining resistance.

Vaati and Zelda were both recovering from their injuries. The royal heir had taken Nabooru’s bed, but he didn’t come out of her room to check on Ganondorf. They had been avoiding each other since yesterday. Ganondorf couldn’t face him without thinking about how he had killed his _adila_ , intentionally or not, and Zelda was too ashamed to make him bear his company. Link had taken the couch in the living room outside their rooms, but he left their quarters early that morning. When he wasn’t helping Ghirahim communicate with Impa, he was busy guarding Kotake’s cell.

Ganondorf had the thought that he should visit his _adi_ , but he didn’t know what he would say. He felt that she would blame him for her sister’s death. If she didn’t, there was still the conversation over what to do with Koume’s body.

Gerudo tradition held that the dead were meant to be burned at sunrise or sunset, during the twilight hour, as soon as possible after their passing. Their ashes would join the sand, their spirits would rise and rejoin the Desert Goddess, and they would guide their living sisters as whispers on the wind and stars in the sky. It was the responsibility of a Gerudo’s eldest daughter to light the pyre, but he doubted that Nabooru would want to do it. His mothers probably wouldn’t want her to do it either.

Though he still wanted to just go back to bed and let someone else deal with his mothers, Ganondorf got back up and changed into his black clothes. Gerudo didn’t wear dark colors during mourning like Hylians, but it felt right anyway. In all the ways that he failed his mothers, he didn’t want Koume’s funeral to be added to that list.

The Yiga’s prison cells were in a disused portion of their hideout. They never needed to take captives. Anyone who had ever snuck past their defenses was simply killed. Ganondorf had spent some time down here as part of his mothers’ ‘lessons,’ but otherwise its cells only occasionally had low-ranking Yiga who got on the bad side of their supervisors.

When Ganondorf came down into its dark, unadorned hallways, the only light came from a handful of torches. They were spaced just far enough apart to leave sections of the floor completely in shadow. He saw Link first, sitting on a stool beside her cell with a book in his hands. Hearing Ganondorf’s footsteps, Link looked up and replaced his bookmark.

 _“Something you need?”_ Link signed.

Ganondorf looked into Kotake’s cell. She was laying on a tick mattress, back to the cell door, curled under a bundle of blankets. Her long, grey hair was down and tangled behind her. Someone had brought her a small floor table and incense tray, so a stick was silently smoking beside an untouched breakfast.

“I’d like to talk to my _adi_ ,” Ganondorf said. The smell of her incense was already triggering a panic attack, but he forced himself to breathe despite it.

Link glanced towards Kotake before facing Ganondorf again. _“Alone?”_

Ganondorf merely nodded. He saw Kotake rising and averted his gaze.

_“I’ll wait down the hall.”_

After Link left, Ganondorf sat himself on the floor in front of Kotake’s cell. He still couldn’t bring himself to look at her. Even as he heard her blankets shift with her sitting up, he only gripped his knees and prayed she would speak first.

Silenced stretched between them. Kotake stared at Ganondorf while he stared at the floor. She studied his hunched shoulders and the way they trembled with his stuttering breath. A clump of ash fell into the incense tray. In a rasping whisper, she asked, “Why are you here?”

“I…” Ganondorf trailed off. He took a deeper breath to steady himself. His eyes stayed on the floor. The stone was so much darker here than in the castle’s dungeon. Smoother too, hewn straight from the bedrock beneath the Highlands rather than carted in as bricks.

“Are you here to gloat?” Kotake asked, voice taking a sharper edge.

“No.” Ganondorf shook his head. His hands tightened on his knees. “I’m just… I’m sorry.”

“Face me if you really want to apologize.”

Ganondorf closed his eyes against the rebuke in her tone, but lifted his head and looked at his _adi’s_ face. She wasn’t wearing make-up. Her facial lines and dark eye circles stood out more prominently than before, but it gave her a softer look. More feeble, less threatening. Like how she used to look when he was younger. Her expression was austere. With her hair down, she almost seemed grandmotherly. It hurt more to see her like this, like the person he had wanted her to be.

Kotake studied Ganondorf’s pained expression for a silent moment. Then she lowered her eyes to her blankets. “I’m sorry too.”

Ganondorf blinked. He didn’t know how to respond to the reciprocated apology. He resumed staring at the floor.

Taking a long, heavy breath, Kotake exhaled. “We were fools to doubt you. No matter what we threw at you, you always prevailed somehow.” She paused. “We should have known you would have found a way to get what you wanted in the end.”

“It’s not… If I had had my way, you both would have willingly given up.”

“You know that wasn’t an option.”

Ganondorf’s jaw clenched. “It should have been.”

Silence stretched between them again. Eventually, Kotake said, “I still don’t trust the Hylians. I never will. If you give them our research, they will horde it and tighten their control over this country. They’ve never seen our sisters as anything more than exotic whores.”

Rather than argue, Ganondorf sighed forcefully through his nose. “I don’t care what you think of them.”

Kotake slapped the floor. “Their princess killed Koume!”

“I know!” Ganondorf pulled his hand into a fist and regretted raising his voice. He didn’t want to continue fighting. “ _Éshi_ damn it, I know…”

Kotake’s blankets shifted as she settled back into her seat. “Then what do you want?”

“I don’t know.” Ganondorf tapped his fist against his knee, struggling to keep his words going. “But we still need to… to have _adila’s_ funeral. We, um… We can get a pyre set up outside and have it at sundown today. Or tomorrow morning.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Whichever you rather, I guess. I figure either way, you’ll want to be the one to light it.” He hesitated. “I don’t really know if there’s anything else I’m forgetting.”

Kotake was silent for a long moment. “Her body will need to be washed and prepared,” Kotake said eventually. “Don’t let the Yiga build the pyre. Only Gerudo elders can do it right.”

“Okay.” After another moment of hesitation, Ganondorf asked, “Do you want Nabooru to be there? Or anyone else?”

Subdued, Kotake answered, “No. We have only ever had each other. We don’t need your sister to spit on Koume’s fire.”

Ganondorf doubted that Nabooru would be so disrespectful, but decided against arguing that point too. “I’ll get someone to take you back to your rooms then.” He started to lean forward to rise, but then remembered one last question. “Before I go,” he said, “can you tell me – what happened to Demise’s sword? What’d you do with it after you took it from Ghirahim?”

Kotake sighed. “We put it in our workshop for safekeeping. We had ideas on how to incorporate it into other inventions, but…” She let the thought trail off. Both of them knew she wouldn’t be allowed to continue any more research.

“Okay.” Ganondorf nodded and got up. Giving her one last parting glance before bidding goodbye, he wondered dully if things would get any better between him and his _adi._ He got more than he expected out of their meeting. And yet it was only enough to painfully remind him of what he still lacked.

While Ganondorf left the prison section of the hideout, he hoped time would help scar over the thorns left in his heart.


	68. “Please pardon our gracelessness.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To make up for being late last week, this week's update is a little early!
> 
> Also! I got fan art from [GleamAndDarken](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GleamAndDarken/pseuds/GleamAndDarken)! They drew [a picture of Kit on their tumblr here!](https://64.media.tumblr.com/fc8f08c10ddac4111404d6a819ce5cbe/d97b140c68f472d9-8e/s1280x1920/e8d522aad8db2c8c75aada6235d684837443587d.png)

Zelda sat up in Nabooru’s bed after he heard Ganondorf leave. His hair was a tangled mess. He tried running his fingers through it, but couldn’t even get halfway down its length. That was what he got for skipping out on brushing it yesterday. He hadn’t been able to make himself do much of anything ever since Ganondorf let him use Nabooru’s room. After they locked up Kotake and Ghirahim took over reorganizing the Yiga Clan, Zelda had nothing to do except rest and dwell on his transformation.

The moment he became the burning-gold fox, it felt like all of his senses had been lit on fire. Power roared through his ears, blinded his eyes, and crackled through his bones. He had seen Koume and Kotake not as themselves, but as flaring, iridescent shadows. Their divine beast was a writhing mass of black worms, a void sucking in all light. The only thought he had was instinct: fight or die. When Ganondorf and Vaati came out of Vah Tempestrova, Zelda saw only the golden glow of the Gerudo’s Triforce and perceived its strength as another threat. It had come out of the evil snake. Then he was hurt by ice and noticed another golden light attacking him.

When Zelda finally recognized Ganondorf, it was because the barrage of arrows ended and the din in his head was able to quiet down. The Gerudo came into focus as the brightness of his magic sight dimmed. Then he heard him say he was drowning in his own blood, and Zelda wasn’t sure he had heard him right. He didn’t understand why he was hurt. He hadn’t even realized he had killed Koume until Ghirahim explained it to him later. When he recognized that it was he himself who hurt his friends, he wasn’t even thinking of Twinrova.

Zelda didn’t know how to feel about Koume’s death. He hated Twinrova for how they hurt Ganondorf and was glad they weren’t going to threaten his kingdom anymore, but it hurt to hear Ganondorf sob over them. Zelda thought he should be sorry about Ganondorf’s loss, but he wasn’t. He was just scared of somehow turning back into the burning-gold fox and forgetting himself again. Even now, as his Triforce slept once more, the Power that had rushed through his bones left a lingering itch. It made him restless and more uncomfortable in his own skin than he had ever been.

A knock on his door interrupted Zelda’s brooding. It was Jarek, the only Yiga member Ganondorf trusted apparently. Zelda’s opinion on him was still undecided. He had been their key to escaping and getting back Ganondorf’s weapons in time to fight Twinrova, but he hadn’t stuck around to help further and his nosy questions were annoying. He seemed to regard all of their problems as some kind of free entertainment.

Jarek came to ask if Zelda wanted him to bring him anything, but it was clearly just an excuse to continue pestering him about being Hyrule’s princess. No one had told him or the rest of the Yiga the truth about Zelda’s identity, but it wasn’t hard to put two and two together after the showdown in the amphitheater. Jarek wanted to know what it was like in the castle, if the king was really as bad Twinrova made him out to be, and whether Zelda thought the castle’s spymaster would like him or not. Though Jarek professed that he still planned to take a vacation after everything quieted down at the base, he was interested in joining Impa’s network.

Zelda didn’t have the patience to answer all of his questions, yesterday or today, so he offered only curt responses and told him to bring him lunch later. His impatience was mostly due to the fact that he didn’t want to think about his father. Now that his adventure with Ganondorf was wrapping up, he didn’t want to go back to being called a she. Even if it meant forfeiting his birthright, he would rather find a new way to serve his kingdom than continue to be its princess.

After Jarek left, Vaati came out of his room beneath Nabooru’s dresser and switched to his Hylian form. He walked over to the foot of Nabooru’s bed and put his hands on top to climb up. While he crawled over to Zelda’s feet and sat down, he asked, “Are you feeling any better?”

Zelda shrugged, self-consciously pulling his blankets up higher to cover his chest. He hadn’t changed out of his nightclothes and hadn’t put back on his binder yet. “I think I’m getting cabin fever in here.”

“We could go explore the hideout together,” Vaati suggested. “Chief Saburi’s people should be here now, so it’s safe.”

“I’d just get in the way somehow.” Zelda pulled up his legs and hugged them against his chest.

“Not if we went to Ghirahim’s rooms. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if you blew off steam with his weapons collection.”

Zelda considered the idea. It was tempting, especially since he was still itching to get his blood pumping again, but the allure worried him too. Logically there was no reason for him to transform again. It was his Triforce’s instinctive response to mortal peril, just like Ganondorf’s time looping and Link’s prescience. Granted, Link hadn’t been in any danger, but Ghirahim had been. If his Triforce hadn’t woken him up, Zelda knew the demon would have died in that field.

“Should I try to see if there’s something else we can do?” Vaati asked, taking Zelda’s silence as a refusal. “Ghirahim might have use for us somewhere else.”

“I guess. Let me get dressed and I’ll come with you.”

“All right.” Vaati slid off Nabooru’s bed.

Zelda came out of Nabooru’s room several minutes later, having put on his mostly clean burgundy shirt from the first day of their trip. His delay was due to needing to put his hair into a braid. Pulling out all of his tangles gave him split ends, and the desert’s dry air was making it static-stick everywhere.

Vaati rode on Zelda’s head while they struggled to track down Ghirahim. All of the remaining Yiga members they passed in the base either didn’t know where he was or accidentally sent them to places he had long since departed. The demon had apparently been running around nonstop. He was personally evicting everyone he knew couldn’t be trusted and reappointing supervisors he could trust to delegate responsibilities.

When Zelda asked one foot soldier how Ghirahim knew which people to keep, promote, or toss out, he explained that the demon was responsible for vetting every recruit they brought to the hideout. Ghirahim could identify on sight who had magical potential or not, and he had made it his business to investigate their backgrounds and keep tabs on each and every one of them. A handful of Yiga over the years had joined only to attempt assassination attempts on Ganondorf or Twinrova, so the demon maintained control through persuasion, physical intimidation, or blackmail.

After that conversation, Zelda continued through the hideout and marveled that Ghirahim could keep track of so many people. It put Impa’s clandestine tactics to shame. Since Zelda couldn’t even remember all of the names of the castle staff, he made a mental note to ask Ghirahim about lending Impa his skills.

When Zelda and Vaati finally found Ghirahim, he was leading a squad of Chief Saburi’s warriors on a tour. One woman in the front was taking notes while the others listened with stern attention. Ghirahim stopped midsentence as he sensed the royal heir and the Minish’s presence and turned to face them.

“Well, hello, Princess!” Ghirahim said cordially, acknowledging Vaati too with a slight nod. Since their guests couldn’t see the Minish on Zelda’s head, the demon had no reason to draw attention to him. To the Gerudo warriors, he said, “This is Zelda, the royal heir of Hyrule, but he goes by Kit now.”

The warriors all bowed in greeting. The leader of their squad straightened first and said, “It is an honor to meet you, ah…” She trailed off, unsure if Princess was still Zelda’s correct title since Ghirahim called him a he.

Ghirahim smirked at her confusion. “You heard me correctly,” he stated, making the warriors glance at each other. Zelda internally grimaced and braced himself to explain, but the demon continued speaking. “If you want to be formal, call him Prince Kit.”

“Very well.” The Gerudo leader nodded and looked at Zelda again. “Please pardon our gracelessness, Prince Kit.”

Zelda gaped at them. “Uh, sure.” An awkward smile spread across his face. “Thanks.” He felt himself blushing and self-consciously averted his gaze. The new title thrummed in his heart like electric darners. Even if it wasn’t official, it felt right.

“Did you need something?” Ghirahim asked.

“Huh?” Zelda looked up again. “Oh, well Vaati and I were wondering if there was anything we could help with. Barring that, I wanted to know if I could use your sparring room.”

Ghirahim seemed surprised by the request before he smiled furtively. “I suppose I can allow it, so long as you take care not to break anything. I have all the help I need already.” He directed his next question to Vaati. “Do you know where to find my rooms?”

The Minish answered, “I know this base as well as you do.”

“As I expected,” Ghirahim said, to the confusion of the Gerudo warriors since Zelda didn’t speak. To Zelda, he added, “My guardian-class weapons are in a trunk of ancient stone – I believe they will be to your liking.”

Zelda smiled, warmed the gesture. “Thanks, Ghirahim.”

The demon arched an eyebrow and looked sidelong at the royal heir. “Don’t go soft on me, Princess.”

Zelda snorted. “You went soft first.”

“Did not!” he answered, turning up his nose.

“Sure,” Zelda said with a laugh. He turned to leave. “I’ll see you later.”

Ghirahim scowled at him, petulant, but let him go and turned his attention back to his tour.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ghirahim and Kit doing literally anything together is my guilty pleasure - I love their mutual sass so much.


	69. “Spar with me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Today was a lot of highs and lows. Felt sick because of shark week, and I might be coming down with something else ~~I'm hoping it's not Covid~~ , but I had a lot of fun chatting with my new online friends and learning about tarot cards. I stole my bf's old deck because he wasn't using it (and he didn't want them anymore either), and I really enjoy all of the readings I'm getting so far because they seem spot on, but shown in such a way that feels sassy? I dunno, that's probably just me projecting, but still. It feels fitting with Halloween coming up to get more familiar with the occult.

Zelda more than enjoyed Ghirahim’s stash of guardian weapons. The hum of their blue glow and their incredibly light weight was a marvel to experience. It was a shame the training dummies in the sparring room were strictly stationary. He would have appreciated a moving target to really work up a sweat. As it was, the novelty of wielding ancient tech was still enough to keep him occupied. While Zelda danced around the training dummies, Vaati passed the time half catnapping, half watching Zelda from a hidden cubbyhole near the ceiling. He had several such places throughout the hideout, many of which were connected to secret, Minish-sized shortcuts.

Jarek found Zelda at noon to bring him the lunch he requested, and they chatted for a while about the former Yiga member’s childhood in Tarry Town since he couldn’t get the royal heir to talk about the castle. When Zelda grew bored of their conversation, they agreed to wrap up with a friendly sparring match. Vaati expressed concern over the possibility of Zelda overexerting himself, considering he had been just as gravely injured as he was and had been sparring with the dummy most of the morning, but Zelda brushed him off. Hearty elixirs repaired the worst of their wounds, and Zelda was never inclined towards bedrest. His Triforce also seemed to be augmenting his recovery time.

To Zelda’s delight, he found he was the better swordsman. After having Link as his sparring partner for so long, he shouldn’t have been surprised. An inexperienced Yiga was really no match. After he soundly knocked Jarek onto his back, Zelda heard a slow clap and looked up. Ghirahim had walked into the sparring room.

“Bravo,” the demon said, stopping just outside the ring. “Not bad for a warm-up. If you had gotten your foot behind his heel, you would have gotten a swifter takedown.”

Jarek groaned as he sat up. “Felt pretty swift to me,” he muttered.

“Naturally,” Ghirahim said, unimpressed. “You shirk physical training. You should have been able to take the momentum of that fall to bring the princess down with you.”

“Thanks for the tip,” Jarek answered, though he sounded far from appreciative. “I gotta go now, so…”

Ghirahim rolled his eyes and waved him off. After the Yiga left, Ghirahim said to Zelda, “That one is a shameless opportunist. He hasn’t been causing you much trouble, has he?”

“No.” Zelda turned off the guardian sword he had been using. “He hasn’t been more than a bug in my ear. What’re you doing here?”

“Chief Saburi’s people are now acquainted with the hideout and all relevant persons, so I have some free time.” Ghirahim glanced about the room. “Where’s the Minish?”

“Up here,” Vaati answered from his cubbyhole.

Ghirahim cast up his eyes and narrowed them when he spotted him. “Has that niche always been there?”

“Yes.” Vaati smirked. “I watched all of your training sessions with Ganondorf from this spot.”

“Clever mouse,” Ghirahim said, though he frowned in annoyance.

Zelda laughed, imagining Vaati’s surely smug expression. The Minish was tucked away too high up for him to see his face. Ghirahim looked equally peeved at Zelda’s mirth, but the royal heir had learned not to take his feigned ire seriously. Walking back to his lunch tray where a glass of hydromelon juice awaited him, Zelda asked, “Have you talked to Gan at all today?”

“Not directly, but Link told me he visited Kotake.” Ghirahim crossed his arms and looked absentmindedly towards the door. “He had me ask Saburi’s people to build Koume a funeral pyre.”

“Oh.” Zelda’s good humor deflated. He drank slowly to avoid speaking. Despite knowing that Koume was dead, it somehow hadn’t occurred to him that she would get a funeral. He was half-expecting her body to have been dumped in a hole somewhere.

“They are going to light it at sundown tonight. I imagine I will attend, but it will be more for Ganny’s sake than the twins’.” He tossed his bangs aside with a shrug. “I never really cared for either of them personally.”

Zelda couldn’t help a wry smile at that. “Not surprised.”

“We’re lucky that it was Kotake who survived out of the two. If it had been Koume, we would have had a more difficult time keeping her contained.”

The comment piqued Zelda’s morbid curiosity. “Was she the stronger sister?”

“In willpower, yes,” Ghirahim answered. “She was really the leader. Kotake was her second, though they were both all too happy to let the Yiga think they were equally in charge.”

“Huh.” Zelda pondered that for a moment. Becoming quieter, he said, “Do you think, if I hadn’t…”

“No use going down that path,” Ghirahim said before Zelda could complete his thought. “I would have killed both of them myself, personally. Would have been simpler all around. Instead we have a loose end to contend with.”

“But if neither of them died—”

“Then they would have caused us more trouble and probably ended up executed. It’s better this way.” He held up his hands palms up. “Ganny can try to make amends with his remaining mother and we get peace.”

Zelda sighed. “If it is supposed to be better, why do I still feel like a monster?”

“Because you _did_ turn into one,” Ghirahim answered. “An oversized keaton, specifically. Monsters are just figments of magic given form.”

Looking sidelong at Ghirahim, Zelda asked, “Isn’t that what fairies basically are too?”

Ghirahim shrugged. “If you want to be reductionist. The key difference is that fairies are beings of light, and monsters are beings of darkness. Both need energy to survive in this world, but in general, fairies get it through blessings and monsters get it through whatever they can kill.”

The distinction sounded more like one based on morals than physiological traits, but Zelda didn’t want to get into a theological debate. Ghirahim’s perspective helped him feel better regardless.

As Zelda put down his drink and went to put back the guardian sword in its trunk, he asked, “Do you have anything else particularly fun to use in here?”

Ghirahim scanned the wall of his collection. He knew Zelda was more practiced with lightweight weapons, but he wanted to expand the royal heir’s arsenal. He picked up the smallest of his lynel crushers, which was still nearly the same size as him, and carried it over to the sparring mat. It felt heavier than he was used to, a fact that annoyed him, but he reminded himself that it was only because Zelda’s rapier was a weaker anchor than Demise’s blade. He set down the crusher with his handle up towards Zelda. “Try wielding this.”

Zelda raised an eyebrow and looked dubiously at the log of raw metal. “That thing probably weighs twice as much as I do.”

“Not quite,” Ghirahim answered. “It looks heavier than it is because it was balanced for a wielder much larger than either of us. With a firm grip, you should have no issue picking it up.”

“I think you’re mistaking me for Ganondorf.” Nevertheless, Zelda humored him and took the crusher’s handle. Putting both hands around it, he hoisted up the weapon and examined its length. It felt lighter than it looked, but Zelda was certain that if he attempted to swing the thing, he would end up flying with it. Zelda looked back at Ghirahim. “Are you trying to make me look like an idiot with this?”

“No.” Ghirahim gave him a mischievous smile. “I was merely curious to see if awakening your Triforce augmented your strength.”

Zelda moved the crusher to rest it against his shoulder, leaving one hand hanging from its handle. Doubtful, he asked, “You think it did?”

“Most certainly.” Shifting his weight to one hip, the demon pointed at the crusher and said, “That is actually nearly three times your weight. Anyone else of your slim physique would have buckled under it by now.”

Zelda turned his head and did a double-take at the crusher. “You’re lying.”

“I am not,” Ghirahim said, looking smug. “You feel it, don’t you? Your Power running through you? The whole of your essence is glowing with it.”

Zelda moved the crusher off his shoulder and let it thud onto the floor. The reverberation was enough to prove Ghirahim was being truthful, but he still didn’t want to believe it. It did explain the restlessness in his bones, though.

“Don’t be intimidated by it.”

Zelda looked up, surprised by the demon’s reassuring tone. Ghirahim read him as easily as he did as when he was his sword form. “Why shouldn’t I be?” He averted his gaze again and said more quietly. “It made me hurt Gan.”

“No, that was your lack of control,” Ghirahim answered. “Power is not inherently dangerous – power unchecked is. Learn how to use it, and you’ll no longer need to fear it.” He glanced up at Vaati as he spoke, directing the advice at him too. The Minish slunk deeper into his cubbyhole.

“How am I supposed to learn?” Zelda asked. “I almost wasn’t able to turn back at all.”

“You wouldn’t need to go directly into practice with your beast form. First you will need to relearn how heavy things really are, then how to limit yourself accordingly.”

“You think I can?” It was less a question of capability, and more one of permission. Zelda was already dreading what his father would think of this development.

“I don’t see why you wouldn’t be able to. You have the tenacity for it, and my sparring room and the arena here are ideal places to practice.”

“But I’m… a princess,” Zelda said, loathe to refer to himself that way.

“All the more reason to know how to defend your kingdom with your own hands. Your father can eat his coat if he has complaints.”

Zelda half-smiled. “I don’t think it’ll be that easy.”

“No, but believe me when I say that I will not let him bar your ascension to the throne.” Ghirahim gestured to himself. “I was remade to serve a king. I wanted it to be Ganondorf, but he still spurns the very notion of it. You, however, are ambitious and every inch the budding ruler this kingdom needs.”

Blushing, Zelda turned away to hide his bashful expression. “It’s been fine without me.”

“Not entirely. The twins are right in that trade policies between Hyrule and the desert could be fairer – the scales are tipped in Hyrule’s favor.”

“Our kingdom was destroyed,” Zelda answered defensively. “The others weren’t. We need the funds to continue rebuilding.”

“Hyrule is already prospering. You’re not so much rebuilding as you are expanding at this point.”

“Isn’t that what every kingdom wants?”

“Too much expansion can threaten your neighbors.”

“Yes, but we have peace agreements.”

“Agreements can be broken.”

Zelda made an aggravated noise. “I don’t want to argue politics.”

“It is hardly the time for it now,” Ghirahim agreed. He took the lynel crusher and walked back to his wall of weapons. “But I know you’ll continue to think on it.”

Zelda scowled at Ghirahim, but knew he was right. He hadn’t bothered to seriously question his father’s politics before. It was only his parenting skills he ever had a problem with.

Ghirahim put the crusher back in its place beside the others and went to his section of Zora weapons. He picked up a silverscale spear and silver longsword. Holding out the longsword’s handle towards Zelda, he said, “Spar with me. We have time yet before I am needed elsewhere.”

Zelda accepted the longsword and got into a fighting stance. “Are you going to wipe the floor with me?”

“But of course.” Ghirahim grinned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a chapter that I debated for a long time whether or not it was worth it to include it. Reasons for my hesitation included that it's short, the denouement is really long already, and on the surface it doesn't seem to add a lot. But with the last chapter, I feel like it completes a thought that needed to be said, and I just really like Kit and Ghirahim hanging out in general.


	70. Míreks zho Vésto

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 400 kudos!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! It's amazing how far this fic has come since I first began uploading it. I know it must sound redundant, but I really am glad all of you have read and enjoyed this fic and stuck around this long to see it through. I don't know what I'm going to do when I have to go on hiatus to finish book 2. Seeing your comments and support every week has been absolutely wonderful. I wish there was more I can do to show my appreciation than just write sappy notes like this, because I really cannot fully put it into words what it means to me to know that so many people are here for this fic and my characters.

Ganondorf rubbed his arms as the sun neared ever closer to the horizon. He was sitting by a small, snapping fire just outside of Karusa Valley’s cliffs, facing the West Barrens. A few paces ahead of him was the pyre Chief Saburi’s warriors built. It looked like two, short walls of stone with a bed of logs packed in between. The structure felt too impersonal and plain, so he lined the base of the walls with safflina. He kept a torch and two small, additional bouquets of safflina by his side, one each for him and Kotake to lay on Koume’s fire. He had spent most of the day gathering the flowers and killing monsters in the area. The last thing he wanted was for Koume’s funeral to be interrupted by lizalfos.

When he heard the voices of Gerudo warriors singing _Míreks zho Vésto_ , a low, steady hymn, Ganondorf stood up and looked into the valley. Their song echoed through the sandstone cliffs.

 _Va Me-Éshi,_ _éso læ Bi aksu_

_ho ési ésha'ya navuhasa,_

_yug gíhina sarniro_

_pishlop príla dotorab,_

_príla læ_ _samalét nélk._

_Ho príla cholsun_

_aks ti fulma étimana,_

_éso Bi aksu, ingrasali nélk._

_Ési ésha’ya dotorab,_

_læ me, huwe._

_Ési ésha’ya navuhasa,_

_ti fulma nævu umaetre, la._

Six women came down the valley carrying a pallet with a body wrapped in a linen sheet. They sang _Míreks zho Vésto_ for Koume. Following them was Kotake and Ghirahim. Trailing far behind in the rear were Link and Zelda, and Ganondorf assumed Vaati was with one of them. The plan was to return to the castle immediately after the funeral, so Zelda was also wearing his backpack. Ganondorf had his bag on the ground by his fire.

The Gerudo warriors stopped singing in front of the pyre. They set down their load onto the pyre’s logs and stepped away to stand in a line behind it. Ganondorf lit the torch on his fire and picked up the bouquets of safflina. Kotake silently watched him approach. She had a stony expression, as if she had locked away her feelings for this evening, and she was wearing her make-up again. In her hand was a thin bundle of incense sticks tied off with a red ribbon.

Ganondorf held out one of the bouquets. “I gathered these for you to give her.”

Kotake inhaled through her nose, staring at the gift. Then she slowly exhaled and accepted the bunch of safflina. “Thank you.” Her voice was stiff, formal. She pulled off the ribbon on her incense sticks to add them to the bouquet. She tied it all back together and regarded the bundle for a moment before lifting her head towards the pyre.

No one spoke as Kotake walked up to the side of the pyre. Wind ran silently over the sand. Dust spiraled in little eddies. Shadows stretched farther through the valley. She laid down her bundle on the linen-wrapped body. Her hand caressed Koume’s cheek and shoulder through the rough fabric. Head bowed, her lips moved silently while she offered her final farewells.

Ganondorf waited for her to walk back to his side. He looked at Ghirahim, wordlessly asking if he had final thoughts for Koume. The demon merely stepped back and shook his head. Ganondorf turned back to Kotake. He passed her the lit torch and walked up to the pyre next.

Koume’s body seemed smaller inside the linen wrapping than it did in life. Kotake had placed her bouquet on her chest. Ganondorf set down his crossways over hers. The flowers seemed too little, too few. He swallowed hard. His tears were spent for now, and he was glad for it. He didn’t think his _adila_ would appreciate him wetting her funeral wraps.

Resting his hands on the stone portion of her pyre, Ganondorf searched for what to say. He had been trying to decide how to phrase his last words the entire time he was out in the desert, but nothing felt right. There was too much regret and too many conflicting feelings for any sentiment to feel genuine.

Ganondorf pulled in his fingers and pressed his hands against the stone. It was still warm from the sun. Taking a deep breath before letting it out, he closed his eyes and inclined his head. “I hope we can both find peace,” he murmured. It didn’t feel like it was enough, but it was something. He pulled back his hands. Head hanging low, he walked back to Kotake.

The torch appeared in his vision, surprising Ganondorf. He lifted his head to see Kotake holding it out towards him.

“Take it,” she said.

Ganondorf’s eyebrows rose. “You want me to light it?” He looked hesitantly back at the torch.

“You are our son. It has always been the responsibility of a mother’s child to send her off.”

If that was the case, Ganondorf thought, then Nabooru should have been allowed to light their birth mother’s fire. He wished she was here, or that he had asked her to come period. She would have joined him if he had. He hadn’t because his _adi_ hadn’t wanted her, and she wouldn’t have wanted to be here, and he still wasn’t thinking of his own needs as important. He didn’t really want to be here at all either.

He did not speak these regrets.

Instead Ganondorf took the torch and turned back to Koume’s pyre. He looked over his shoulder at the setting sun. Its bottom edge was just beginning to kiss the sands on the horizon. Ganondorf sighed and walked to the pyre. He knelt down and put the torch to the kindling beneath the bed of logs at her head. White smoke rose. He blew into the flames to help them spread. For several moments, he watched the fire crawl down the length of the pyre and lick the logs above. Then he got back to his feet and stepped back.

While the flames crawled higher, the Gerudo warriors began singing _Míreks zho Vésto_ again. It was more of a chanted prayer now. Ganondorf closed his eyes and listened to the hymn.

_Goddess of the Sand, we pray to You_

_for our sister’s spirit,_

_with the white smoke_

_from her body-dust,_

_lift her to the sky._

Ganondorf imagined his birth mother’s funeral must have had more women singing. There would have been more flowers, more words spoken. Prayers from a priestess, probably. A larger pyre. Perhaps a somber party afterwards to celebrate her life and mourn the additional loss of him and Nabooru. It would have been within view of the palace or inside it, a place he had only seen in pictures. He pretended this funeral was as much for her as it was for Koume.

_For her peace_

_and eternal rest,_

_we pray to You, lift kindly._

Ganondorf reopened his eyes when he began to feel the heat of the pyre. Its flames leapt over the linen blanket. The logs cracked and snapped. Embers floated into the darkening sky. His eyes followed their lights. The first stars of the evening were just beginning to appear. The wind blew smoke over him and he caught a whiff of his mothers’ incense burning in Kotake’s bouquet, mixed into the smell of his _adila’s_ burning hair and flesh. His eyes stung. He mentally recited the names of the stars to keep his thoughts away from his mothers. He prayed that he would be able to smell incense one day without his heartrate spiking.

_Our sister’s body-dust,_

_return to the sand._

_Our sister’s spirit,_

_find rest in the stars._

The fire eventually began to die down. Ganondorf returned to Kotake and Ghirahim’s side to wait for it to burn out completely. The only sound was the crackling wood and bones and the uncomfortable shuffle of their feet in the sand. He looked over at Link and Zelda. Vaati was sitting on Zelda’s propped up knee. They had sat down with Ganondorf’s backpack in front of his little fire and were speaking in low voices. Zelda noticed Ganondorf’s gaze and immediately averted his eyes.

It hurt that Zelda was still avoiding him, but Ganondorf expected it. The royal heir wouldn’t have been present at all if they weren’t returning to the castle soon. If he continued to avoid him this evening, Ganondorf told himself that he would talk to Zelda in the morning.

The fire became soft ash and bone fragments. The Gerudo warriors swept it into a _líms,_ a ceramic urn. In the morning, they would scatter Koume’s _dotorab_ over the sands facing the Arbiter’s Grounds, where the Dessert Colossus once stood. Ganondorf and Kotake thanked the warriors for their service, and they returned to the hideout through Karusa Valley.

Once the warriors were out of earshot, Ghirahim said, “I believe it is time for us to return to the castle.”

Link and Zelda stood up. Zelda put Vaati back onto his head and snuffed out Ganondorf’s fire with a small gust of magic. As Ghirahim and Ganondorf walked over to join them, Kotake reluctantly followed.

“Are they ready for us?” Ghirahim asked Link.

_“Guards are in wait to take Kotake to the lockup.”_

Vaati sat up on Zelda’s head. “If we’re all ready then, I’ll transport us now.”

Ganondorf put on his backpack and nodded. Ghirahim noticed the handle of Demise’s sword sticking out of the top of his bag and frowned, but didn’t comment on it. The others all murmured agreement.

As night overtook the last of the day’s light, the group disappeared in a puff of purple smoke.


	71. “Welcome home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back to work now because my covid test came back negative (thank goodness), and my cold is all but gone now. It snowed here the other day, so I'm rather annoyed at mother nature for not holding off until at least November. Winter needs to wait until I'm done with Halloween.
> 
> Work on book 2 is still going... haltingly. I have so much material I don't know what to do with. Most of it is cut stuff from the first version, and not a lot of it can be recycled. I would save it for bonus scenes, but I doubt they'd make sense out of context (and they'd probably be too spoilery to share anyway if I upload them before I'm done). The hardest part of writing this book is trying to convince myself that any of it is good or worth the effort. I love my characters so much, and I want to see them all through this, but it's just hard to make myself believe I can make lightning strike twice and finish it.
> 
> For those of you reading when this fic is complete, please give me your thoughts on what you'd like to see in book 2. I know you haven't gotten to the very end yet, but keep that question in mind. It will really help me a lot to continue hearing from you all while I'm on hiatus.

The six of them appeared in Zelda’s bedroom. King Cornelius, Impa, and Nabooru were seated in Zelda’s sitting area. While Roam stopped midsentence in a conversation with Nabooru and assisted the other guards standing by to take custody of Kotake, Nabooru leapt up and threw her arms around Ganondorf. Holding him tightly, she said, “Thank _Va Me-Éshi_ , you’re back.”

Ganondorf folded his arms over her back and lowered his face into her hair. It smelled like lemongrass, the fragrance of her preferred shampoo. It was unmistakably her scent, love and safety. The back of his throat went tight, threatening tears, but he held them back. His voice was a whisper. “I missed you.”

While the Gerudo siblings embraced, Impa and the king went to greet the rest of Hyrule’s heroes. Vaati sat up straighter on top of Zelda’s head. Zelda had one arm over his chest, holding his elbow, while Link stood at attention. Ghirahim remained a step behind the Hylians.

Smiling sadly, Impa said, “Welcome home. I don’t imagine any of you have much of an appetite right now, but dinner will be ready soon. Would you like to eat together? Or would any of you prefer some time to yourselves?”

Zelda wasn’t sure what he preferred. He had spent too much time alone already at the Yiga hideout, but Koume’s funeral made him reluctant to actively participate in any socializing. He glanced at Link for his opinion. The knight signed, _“I’m good with whatever you want to do.”_ Without signing, he added just for Zelda, _“You don’t have to talk if you don’t want to.”_

As Zelda turned to Ganondorf, the Gerudo stepped back from his sister, but kept an arm over her shoulders. “We can have dinner together, if you want.”

That didn’t tell Zelda if Ganondorf actually wanted the royal heir’s company or if he was just being polite, so he frowned with indecision.

Ghirahim spoke up for him. “We’ll dine together, thank you.” Addressing the king, he bowed and said, “I would like to formally apologize for the mischief I caused these past few weeks.” He stood up straight. “I’ve had… an awakening, you could say, and I understand now that many of my actions were out of line. I beg your forgiveness, Your Majesty, and pray that you will grant me the honor of serving your family.”

King Cornelius gaped at the demon. The others in the room all looked similarly stunned. Ghirahim’s solemn expression didn’t waver or show any hint of hiding a lie. Zelda then felt a grin tug at the corner of his mouth, and he lifted his hand to hide it. The demon had put his father in a wonderfully terrible position – refuse his apology and be seen as ungracious, or accept it and be forced to let go of his continued resentment.

The king seemed to realize his dilemma the same moment Zelda did. His disbelief turned into a glare. “I thought you claimed Ganondorf as your master,” he said tersely. “What reason do you have to offer me your _service?_ ”

“Surely your Sheikah advisor has not neglected to mention that I was separated from Demise’s blade?” Ghirahim said. Gesturing to Zelda, he said, “I possess your heir’s weapon now, and as such, your heir’s concerns have become mine as well.”

The king turned to Zelda. With a note of distrust, he asked, “You consent to this?”

“Yes, Father,” Zelda answered. “Since Ghirahim joined our party and fused with my rapier, he has faithfully defended me. He is not only a master in the art of combat, but also an unparalleled surveillant. To reject this offer would be a deep mistake.” He neglected to mention all the ways the demon also aggravated him, but his memory was quickly smoothing over their previous rough patches.

Ghirahim beamed at the praise. The king looked more annoyed. With a heavy sigh, he shook his head. “Very well then,” he grumbled. “I accept your apology – on the condition that you never enter my personal chambers unannounced ever again.”

Seeming to restrain a laugh, Ghirahim bowed deeply to hide his smirk. “Of course, Your Majesty. Thank you for your leniency.”

King Cornelius swept his robes behind him and turned to leave. “If that is all, I will meet you downstairs for dinner. Please take this time to refresh yourselves before you rejoin us.”

Following him, Impa smiled and mouthed to Zelda, _“Well done.”_

Zelda grinned and turned away, bashful. It went unnoticed by Ganondorf, who was moving to leave with them and take his bag to his room. As he did so, Nabooru halted him with a surprised look.

“Is that Ghirahim’s sword?” Nabooru asked him, staring at its handle sticking out of the top of Ganondorf’s backpack.

“Oh, yeah.” Ganondorf shrugged off one shoulder of his backpack to open it up and take out the dark blade. It was in Ghirahim’s old sheath. “ _Adi_ told me it was in their workshop, so I grabbed it before we came back.” He looked over at Ghirahim. “Since you couldn’t get Hylia’s blessing, I was thinking we could try to get you reanchored to it.”

Ghirahim stared at his former anchor with an unreadable expression. It was a look one might have upon finding a snake and being unsure if it was venomous and within striking range. After a long moment, he averted his gaze. “Take it away and seal it somewhere. I don’t want it.”

Ganondorf’s eyebrows knotted together. “Are you sure? What about getting your magic back?”

“The power available to me now is sufficient for my current purposes,” Ghirahim answered curtly. “I doubt I would survive a second separation regardless.”

Those sounded like excuses to Ganondorf, but he didn’t know how to call him out on it without further souring the demon’s mood. It seemed ridiculous to him that Ghirahim would refuse to have his power restored, especially since he could use his old abilities to better help Zelda. Most of all, he just didn’t like the idea of Ghirahim staying so close to mortal.

Nabooru put her hand on Ganondorf’s arm. “Let’s just go get ready for dinner, okay?” She gave him a meaningful look, wordlessly asking him to let Ghirahim’s decision stand.

With a sigh, Ganondorf put Demise’s sword back into his bag. “Okay.” He looked back at the others. “See you guys at dinner.”

Vaati hopped off of Zelda’s head and switched to his Hylian form. “I’ll come with you,” he said, joining their side.

Link and Zelda bid them farewell, then Link also excused himself. Ghirahim walked to the side chair in Zelda’s sitting area and set himself down heavily upon it. Zelda remained standing. He wanted to ask about Ghirahim’s reasoning for refusing Demise’s sword, but could guess it had something to do with his fractured memories. He hadn’t forgotten how the demon panicked about his flashbacks regarding the Demon King, even if everyone else was pretending he was fine now.

“It occurs to me that I haven’t apologized to you yet,” Ghirahim said, lifting his gaze from the floor. He tipped his head so his long bangs would fall to the side and let him regard the royal heir with both eyes.

“Huh?” Zelda mentally reviewed Ghirahim’s misdeeds and assumed he meant his attempted kidnapping. “Oh. It’s okay.” It amazed him how much had changed. Zelda hadn’t been willing to forgive or give him a second chance at all less than a week ago. But after the night Ghirahim nearly died, nearly all of his animosity towards the demon had bled out with his mortal injury.

“It still needs to be said. I’m sorry for terrorizing you and threatening your knight.” Ghirahim turned back to the floor, letting his bangs obscure his face once again. “He deserves an apology now as well, but I will track him down later.”

Zelda half-smiled. He walked over to his favorite spot on the sofa and sat down. “I’m sorry for calling you an idiot.”

Ghirahim gave Zelda a wry look. “I suppose we’re even then.”

“I suppose so.”

They were quiet for a moment. Then Ghirahim said, “You should speak to your father about officially changing your title, and your name, if you wish it. You will not be able to reach your full potential with an incorrect label holding you back.” He unconsciously moved his fingers to his chest as he spoke, thinking of how he himself was being held back by an imperfect anchor. He didn’t know how he would go about improving Zelda’s rapier or finding a new sword entirely, but it was on his mental to-do list.

Zelda sighed. “I know, but what are we supposed to do? Just make a big announcement and expect everyone to go along with it?”

“Well, yes,” Ghirahim answered, bemused that the royal heir thought it should be more complicated. “Those wedding preparations you were so worried about wasting, use it for a recoronation. Someone was already going to be crowned a prince that day. Now it can be you instead.”

“Oh.” Blinking at the thought, Zelda considered it. Imagining the scene made him giddy and slightly terrified. “What if my father says no?”

“We will persuade him otherwise.” Ghirahim’s expression became a look of mischief.

“He’s already banned you from entering his rooms,” Zelda said.

“I assure you, Princess, I can make his life much more difficult without directly interfering with his beauty sleep.”

Zelda snorted. “Hold off on your troublemaking until after I talk to him. I’ll ask to have a formal audience with him tomorrow morning.”

“Would you like me to be present? I can attend in my sheath.”

“Maybe. We’ll see how this evening goes first.”


	72. “You don’t need to cry anymore.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, if you're like me in the US and feeling anxious because of, well, _everything_ that's at stake and could use a distraction right now, you're in luck because here's the weekly update and it's happy stuff.
> 
> Take care of yourselves. Drink some water. Pick up some clutter/trash. Stretch your arms or legs if you haven't moved around much, or make yourself sit down if you've been running yourself ragged. They're important reminders even on the best of days.
> 
> Also! I accidentally started a sort of prequel/extended prologue to book 2 that's all about Sebastes (Gan's father, who is featured in this bonus fic here: [Shadows of Doubt](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24975364)). It started (like most of my writing) as an experiment to get to know him and a new character, and then it just kind of... exponentially grew. So, I will probably begin uploading it shortly after I'm done with this story (assuming I can get it to a state of completion that won't completely spoil one of the major conflicts in book 2).
> 
> I will also be uploading some more [bonus chapters](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1806355) of fluff and extraneous scenes that didn't really fit in with the rest of the denouement soon. I have three ready: one each for chapters 73, 74, and 76. ~~I also still have an unfinished ficlet about Gan when he was 14, but I'm waiting to have the spoons to make it as angsty as it needs to be~~.

Zelda and Ghirahim were the last ones to enter the dining hall. After they sat down, a large skillet of fresh seafood paella was rolled out of the kitchen and served. Conversation began awkwardly. None of Hyrule’s heroes were inclined to illustrate the story of how they defeated Twinrova in the Yiga hideout’s amphitheater. Nabooru helped fill the silences by talking about her impressions of the castle and its library. She had spent a good deal of her time with Impa, but during the times the Shiekah was busy, Roam had stepped in to keep her company. They had bonded with each other over stories about Ganondorf, Zelda, and Link when they were children, which embarrassed all three of them to learn, and over the fact that Roam helped protect her during the second blood moon. When she had been well enough to visit Castle Town the other day, Roam also joined her as her escort. While she talked about her favorite parts of the Hylian city, Link chimed in with his favorite places and offered recommendations on where she and Ganondorf could visit next.

Neither of the Gerudo siblings were quite decided on what they wanted to do moving forward. Chief Saburi had extended invitations for them to join her in Gerudo Town, and she heard from their father that he was also preparing his home in Lurelin Village for them to visit. Both options were appealing, but Ganondorf and Nabooru were content to stay in the castle for a while longer, at least until after the royal family decided what to do with their cancelled wedding plans.

Ganondorf and Nabooru still didn’t want to use the celebration in their honor. Vaati suggested that the castle could bring back the Picori Festival, though he wanted to rename it the Minish Festival. It had been a popular annual holiday during his time, and he imagined the people today would enjoy it just as much.

Nabooru and Ganondorf both endorsed the idea, and the others looked interested. Impa asked what events took place during it. While Vaati described its sword-fighting contest, Zelda’s heart sunk. He also thought the Picori Festival sounded fun, especially if he could compete in the tournament, but he didn’t think he would be able to be recoronated if they went with Vaati’s idea. Conflicted, he pushed around a scallop on his plate. If everyone else wanted the festival, it felt selfish to try to make it about him instead.

Ghirahim noticed Zelda sink down in his seat. He was about to comment on it, but Link beat him to it. _“Something wrong?”_ he signed under the table at him.

“I just… it’s nothing,” Zelda muttered. He stabbed at a clump of rice.

Link looked unconvinced and more concerned. Ghirahim leaned over Zelda and murmured to Link, “We had another idea for the celebration.”

On the other side of the table, Ganondorf and Nabooru saw them talking quietly and Zelda hunched over his plate. Frowning, Ganondorf asked, “Did we miss something?”

His question caught the attention of Vaati, who was standing on the table by Nabooru’s plate, as well as Impa and the king. They all looked on with confusion at Link and Ghirahim’s concern towards Zelda.

Zelda shrunk further in his seat, feeling his face grow hot. “N-no.”

“Don’t be ashamed,” Ghirahim told him.

At the same time, Link signed to the others, _“Ghirahim said he and Zelda had another idea.”_

Ganondorf glanced between the demon and the royal heir. “What is it?”

Vaati spoke up and added, “We don’t have to turn your wedding date into a festival. I’m not even sure it would really be feasible to make such a drastic change, so more ideas are still welcome.”

Zelda pulled around his ponytail and twisted its end tightly around his fingers. Not looking up at anyone at the table, he said, “Okay… Well, it was Ghirahim’s idea, but…” He twisted his hair tighter around his fingers. “I want to officially change my title. ‘Princess Zelda’ has never felt right. Every time I hear it, I think it’s talking about someone else, not me. So… I was hoping I could have a new coronation and be renamed Prince Kit.”

King Cornelius recoiled in surprise. He put his hands on the table and leaned forward. “You would forsake your namesake for a _nickname_?”

Ganondorf leaned around Impa to face the king. “Is there something wrong with it?” he asked. “Kit fits him, and honestly this is the best idea I’ve heard yet.”

Link nodded, signing, _“I agree.”_ His thoughts continued, _“I should have of thought of it first, really.”_

The king gaped at Ganondorf and Link. “But Zelda is—”

“If you call him a woman,” Ganondorf retorted, “I will lose my patience with you, sir. Look around this table.” He swept his hand down each side. Beside him was Impa, Vaati, and Nabooru, and on either side of Zelda sat Link and Ghirahim. “Every single one of us here knows Zelda is a man. Most of us already only call him Kit, and all of us only use he when talking about him. You’re the only one who keeps trying to invalidate his identity.”

Flustered, the king said, “I’m not trying to invalidate anything. She _is_ the princess, and if Zelda is to have heirs, she can’t become a prince! We can’t let the royal bloodline end just because she wants a different name.”

Ghirahim laced his fingers together and faced the king with a scathing look. “Did any of us say that Kit was giving up his uterus?”

“Excuse me?” The king turned red, indignant at his vulgar statement. Zelda face-palmed with both hands and sunk halfway beneath the table in embarrassment.

“We’re only talking about changing Kit’s name and title,” Ghirahim answered. “Whatever happens after that is yet to be decided.”

“But, a prince—how…?” King Cornelius didn’t even know how to phrase the rest of his questions.

Impa placed her hand on his arm. “Your Highness, we can discuss the logistics of preserving your bloodline in a more appropriate location later.” She turned back to the others. “I appreciate all of your support for Zelda. However, I must caution all of you – such a bold decision won’t land without backlash. Many will never accept it.” Impa looked to the royal heir, who was barely peeking at her past his fingers. “If you really, truly want to be renamed, are you willing to endure an unwelcome reception or outright opposition?”

Zelda pulled himself back up and put his hands back on the table, gripping his fingers. He thought hard over her question for a moment, but realized his answer couldn’t change. Not now that the possibility was out and in the air. Zelda met Impa’s eyes and nodded. “If I can’t be Prince Kit, I can’t stay in this castle. I won’t. I’ll become a commoner instead, or anything else so long as I don’t have to stay a princess.”

The king put his head into his hand. He pulled his other hand into a fist beside his plate. It was difficult to tell if he was praying to the Goddesses or cursing them. He lifted back up his head and faced Zelda. “What about our people?” he asked. “Is it right for us to stir up discord for your own whims?”

Zelda turned away. He had no answer. That question was what had always prevented him from abandoning Hyrule completely.

Link sat up and signed, _“A king not at peace with himself cannot hold peace in his kingdom. Let the people argue. Those in dissent will be drowned out by our allies, and in time our country will be stronger for it.”_

“Exactly what he said,” Ganondorf added. “You have to start shit to make things better. If I hadn’t trusted Kit to help me fight back, my mothers would have taken the castle. He thinks about your people just as much as you, and doubting him only hurts both of you.”

King Cornelius looked from Link to Ganondorf, then at the others at the table who were nodding with them. He sighed heavily. “I’m too old for this,” he muttered, shaking his head. He faced Zelda again.

The defense from his friends helped Zelda sit up straighter, and the royal heir smiled his thanks at them. It struck King Cornelius as strange, that smile. Noticing the thought caught him off guard. Why would a father think such a thing of his child? He had seen Zelda smile plenty at dinner parties and other royal functions, but the lightness in his expression now didn’t match the polite face he made for guests. He couldn’t recall the last time Zelda ever had a smile like that for him.

The realization – that he had not seen his own child look genuinely happy for far too many years – made him fall back in his seat. He laid his hands flat on the edge of the table. For a minute, he stared at his wedding band. His eyes closed. He sent a silent apology to Zelda’s mother, his late wife. He wished, not for the first or last time, that she could have helped him through all these years. That she could offer her wisdom right now. He did his best to imagine what she would say, and he grimaced. He scrubbed his hand over his goatee. He breathed in and sighed heavily, shaking his head. His hands fell back to the table. Slowly, his shoulders sunk with another huffed sigh. His expression grew somber as he rubbed at his wedding band. “If this is to be a recoronation,” he said eventually, “you will need a circlet, not a tiara.”

Zelda’s breath caught in his throat. When his father looked at him across the table and offered a wane smile, Zelda jerked out of his chair. His fingers pressed into the edge of the table. “Do you mean it?” he asked, scarcely breathing.

King Cornelius nodded. He lifted up his hands and said, “I don’t know what can be made in less than two weeks, but it will be done.”

Zelda’s chair screeched across the floor. He ran to his father and tackled him in a hug. As he balled up the back of his fur robe in his hands, he exclaimed, “Thank you! Oh my Goddesses, I—” His voice broke into sobbing. He hiccupped through his tears and couldn’t continue speaking. He pushed his face in between his father’s neck and robe. All he could do was hold onto his father’s shoulders and try to keep his legs from giving out beneath him. He choked out between gasps, “I-I didn’t think you would e-ever say yes.”

“Oh, Zelda…” King Cornelius got out of his chair to properly hold Zelda in return. He pulled him against his chest. “Please don’t cry.” His own eyes watered while he rubbed Zelda’s back. His child continued shaking hard in his arms. He felt his doublet growing damp at his neck. “I’m sorry. Please, you don’t need to cry anymore.”

Zelda did not stop crying. His father’s pleading for him to stop only seemed to further encourage the release, so eventually the king settled for repeating the gentle reassurance that everything was okay. He sat back down and pulled Zelda on his lap, holding him like he had when Zelda was a small child. When Zelda seemed to be calming down, his father said would try to call him son from now on if it really meant that much to him. That statement then got Zelda sobbing again, and his father regretted saying it, but he continued rubbing his back to wait for him to calm down again.

When Zelda was finally able to breathe easier and was sniffling, he pulled away from his father to blow his nose on his napkin, which Link helpfully held out for him.

“Are you done now?” King Cornelius asked, having been made haggard by his concession and the weight of the changes ahead of him. “Can we please finish dinner?”

Zelda glanced at their half-finished plates and laughed weakly. “Yeah.” He blew his nose again. “I’m sorry.”

Impa smiled at them. “There’s no need to apologize. It was clearly needed.”

Zelda nodded sheepishly. The rest of his friends all reassured and congratulated him. Zelda wasn’t particularly hungry anymore, as he was too exhausted with joy, but he returned to his seat. The rest of dinner passed with discussion on how to pull together his recoronation.


	73. “Maybe it will fit without alteration.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudo bonus!! And this chapter is connected thematically to a bonus chapter that was cut, which you can read here: [“The matter of changing the essence of a thing.” (Chapter 73.5)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27382105)
> 
> I've had a great few days, and it's just because of the news. I started a new LoZ-inspired D&D campaign with [SaltySaph](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaltySaph/pseuds/SaltySaph), [shadow_djinni](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadow_djinni/pseuds/shadow_djinni), and [ro_blaze](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ro_blaze/pseuds/ro_blaze). It's been absolutely amazing making characters with them, and they're all also amazing writers here. I highly recommend checking out their fics if you want some more original LoZ content!

Early the following morning, Zelda was summoned to his father’s study. The secluded niche was tucked between tall bookcases on the bottom level of the library. His father had removed the bookshelf covering the formerly secret entrance, but everyone in the castle still knew better than to enter uninvited. It was a space reserved for his work or private discussions only with Impa, his most trusted advisors, or Zelda.

Though Zelda knew he had been summoned to discuss the design of his circlet, it still made him nervous to pass through the narrow hallway into his father’s study. There were tall piles of paper around his mahogany desk. A portrait of Zelda’s mother hung on the wall above him. Zelda found himself automatically stopping over a scuff mark in the red rug. He had made the permanent mark over the course of several years, twisting the toe of his boot into it while his father scolded him for past misdeeds or lectured him on what did and did not constitute “ladylike” behavior.

King Cornelius was sitting behind his desk when Zelda came in, but stood up to welcome him. When he noticed where Zelda stopped, he sighed, exhaustion seeping through his shoulders. “Please, sit.” He gestured to the chair in front of his desk.

Zelda never sat in that chair for his father’s lectures. It was mainly because his father had a tendency to stand when he was yelling, and Zelda never liked being beneath him. When Zelda saw his father sit back down behind his desk, he reluctantly took the seat.

The king picked up a velvet box from the top of one of his piles of papers. Opening it, he said, “This was your great-grandfather’s.” He pulled out a circlet adorned with gold leaves. In its center was a teardrop-shaped diamond. “We were going to give it to Link. Since plans have changed, however, it occurred to me that you may want it.”

His father held out the circlet for Zelda. Taking it, his eyes widened as he examined the delicate filigree of the gold leaves. Magic thrummed through the diamond in its center. Evidently it was imbued with powerful, protective enchantments.

“We will probably need to have it altered to fit your head, if you choose to wear it,” King Cornelius stated. “If it’s not to your liking, we can commission another piece. The caveat is that we don’t have time for anything too elaborate.” He picked up a book and set it down on his desk in front of Zelda. “You can use this to get ideas. It is a history of our family’s crowns.”

Zelda spared the book only a brief glance. He faced the diamond circlet again. “This is perfect,” he said, feeling his heart welling with emotion. He bit the inside of his cheek and focused on not letting himself cry again. Even if they were mostly happy tears, he wasn’t used to being that vulnerable with his father. It was going to take a long time to bridge the rift between them, and his father’s reluctant acceptance of his recoronation had only just laid the groundwork towards building that bridge.

King Cornelius smiled faintly, though his eyes betrayed lingering regret. It was obvious he was still mourning the perceived loss of his daughter. Endeavoring to sound more lighthearted than his expression suggested, he said, “Let’s try it on then. Maybe it will fit without alteration.”

“Okay.” Zelda put it on and pulled his high ponytail through its top. It was a better fit than he expected it to be, as it almost stayed up at his forehead, but it still slipped onto his ears and nose. He pushed it back up and held it so the diamond centerpiece rested between his eyebrows. “How does it look?”

“It’s… nice,” the king answered, settling for neutral praise. “It doesn’t frame your face like your tiara, but… if it makes you happy, it will be made ready.”

It wasn’t the glowing endorsement Zelda hoped for, but he’d take it. He removed the diamond circlet and passed it back to his father, who exchanged it with a piece of string for Zelda to measure his head. After the royal heir pinched the point for the circlet’s new circumference, he gave it back and his father measured it against a ruler.

“Is that everything then?” Zelda asked, scooting forward in his seat to leave.

“No, I had one more matter I wanted to discuss.” The king fretfully straightened some of his papers. “That new name you want – ‘Kit.’ It isn’t a name fit for a king. Is there not another one you might prefer, if it must be something besides Zelda?”

Zelda’s expression soured. “I like the name Kit.”

“But it is a _nickname_ ,” King Cornelius argued. “A single syllable!”

“Your great-grandfather’s name was one syllable,” Zelda retorted.

“His first name, yes, but his full title was King Rhoam Bosphoramus Hyrule. ‘Kit Hyrule’ is not regal at all.”

“So?”

“Kit can stay your nickname, but you need to consider having a real name for your recoronation. Kristopher would be a fine option.”

Zelda glared at him. “That sounds stupid.”

“What about Kristoff? Or Kitteridge?”

“No, I don’t like them!” Zelda hit his knees with his fists. “I like Kit.”

“At least concede to adding a middle name,” King Cornelius pleaded. “You’re not thinking of how your name will sound when you’re older, when it gets put into history books.”

Zelda continued glaring at his father, but he did have a point. It hadn’t been that long since he started answering to Kit. His fondness for it was at least partly due to the novelty of having a gender-neutral name period. Ganondorf could have given him any other name, and he might have ended up liking it just as much.

Breaking his stare, Zelda faced his fists. “Fine. I guess I can accept a middle name.”

The king leaned back in his seat, relieved. “Thank you.” He tugged on his beard, thoughtful. “Now our difficulty will lay in finding something suitable to complement such a plain name.”

Zelda pondered the question for a moment. He glanced up at the portrait of his mother. She had a demure smile and Zelda’s same grey eyes. Not for the first or last time, he wondered what she thought of him choosing a new name for himself. Being born a girl, tradition dictated he be named Zelda. If he had been born a boy, his parents could have picked anything. Zelda hesitantly looked back at his father. “Did you and Mother have any names you might have used for me?”

King Cornelius seemed caught off-guard by the question. Then his eyebrows furrowed, thinking back. “Yes,” he murmured, deep in memory. “There were a few we particularly liked. Bartholomew was one, I believe. I know I liked Ferdinand, but that wouldn’t suit you at all now. Your mother was fond of Rennard.”

Zelda voicelessly repeated his mother’s favorite, testing the feel of it. ‘Kit Rennard Hyrule’ rolled smoothly off his tongue. “I think I like that last one.”

“Rennard?” When Zelda nodded, the king smiled sadly, unsurprised that name would be his choice. “Let’s give it some time to be sure. I’ll continue to think of other options in case you decide against it.”

“Okay,” Zelda answered, though he sensed that he wouldn’t. It felt right to use a name his parents should have given him in the first place. If his mother was watching over him with Hylia, he hoped she approved of his choice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't forget, you can check out the bonus scene related to this chapter here: [“The matter of changing the essence of a thing.” (Chapter 73.5)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27382105)


	74. “We’re such weirdos.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, everyone! This chapter also has a bonus scene, which you can find here: [“Just happy!” (Chapter 74.5)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27046393)

After Zelda left his father’s study and stepped into the library, he heard Ganondorf call, “Kit!” The Gerudo stood up from one of the study tables on the library’s ground floor and walked over to Zelda. “The servants told me I’d find you here, but finding this place was a quest in itself.”

Zelda couldn’t help but laugh. “You could have asked someone to escort you.”

Ganondorf shrugged, glad to have lightened the royal heir’s mood. When he had come out of the king’s study, his expression looked more melancholic than he would have preferred. “Exploring is more fun, and besides, I don’t think any of them particularly like me. They all still remember me as the castle’s prisoner, and Ghirahim asking your father to give me his blessing didn’t go unnoticed.”

Zelda cringed. “Oh, right.” Despite all of the good Ganondorf had accomplished, the servants had only personally seen the worst of the Gerudo. No doubt most of them blamed Ganondorf for the cancelled wedding and the headaches they were getting over reorganizing all of their plans.

“It’s all right,” Ganondorf assured him. “I don’t mind, honestly. It’s no different than being in the Yiga hideout.” He paused a beat. “Actually, no. Scratch that. Here’s better because you have so many windows. I spent half the time getting over here just staring at the moat and the hills outside.”

Zelda appreciated the shift in topic. “You should see it in winter. Half of the moat freezes over and snow blankets the fields.”

“Now that would be something.”

Curious, Zelda asked, “Have you seen snow before?”

“A few times in the Highlands when I was taken up there to train, but I don’t imagine it’s quite like your winters.”

“Probably not,” Zelda agreed. “So, why did you come to find me?”

Ganondorf rubbed the back of his neck. “Uh, well, we were kind of avoiding each other for a while, so I just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

“Oh.” Zelda half-frowned, awash with renewed guilt. He still hadn’t apologized for killing one of his mothers or thought much at all of the fact that his remaining mother was locked up in the dungeon. He had been so preoccupied with his recoronation, he completely forgot about Ganondorf’s problems. The fact that he did gnawed at him, especially considering how Ganondorf jumped to his aid during dinner last night. Zelda should have been doing more to support him.

Ganondorf watched Zelda’s expression fall. With a sigh, he said, “I take it that means you’re not okay.”

Zelda folded his arms and held his elbows. “No, I’m fine. _I’m_ getting everything I wanted.” He hesitated, then added, “You’re not.”

“Don’t say that.” Ganondorf took a step to leave and beckoned Zelda to follow him. “Come on. If we’re going to have a depressing talk, we might as get some fresh air. It’s nice outside.”

Zelda reluctantly followed. “I bet you’d say that even if it was raining.”

“Hm, probably.” Ganondorf didn’t have to duck under the doorframes of any of the doorways on the public floors of the castle, a fact he appreciated after his run through the castle’s lower levels. “Anything is better than being underground.”

They came outside and walked off the path into the grass facing the northeast. They stopped at the edge of a sharp drop-off. Beneath them was a little river and a series of waterfalls leading into the moat. Ganondorf sat down in the grass and tipped back his head to feel the sun on his face, gentle here rather than harsh. The air smelled green and marshy because of the moat. The only sound was the pigeons cooing on the castle’s parapets and the babble of the waterfalls below them. If he ignored one of the guard towers in his peripheral vision, he could almost believe he was out in the wild.

Zelda sat down beside Ganondorf, but he left an arm’s span of space between them. He pulled around his ponytail to fidget with it. Quietly, he asked, “Why aren’t you mad at me?”

“Why would I be?” Ganondorf looked down at Zelda. “We both know you weren’t in control of yourself.”

“Yeah, but… You’ve been dealing with all of your stuff on your own, and I didn’t do anything to help. Now you’re trying to help me. It’s not fair.”

“You’ve helped me plenty, Kit. I was serious about what I said last night. You’re the reason I’m not living under my mothers’ control anymore. You deciding to help me saved me and Nab, _and_ all of Hyrule.” Ganondorf put his hands on the grass behind him and leaned back. Facing the sky, he continued, “The things I’m still dealing with aren’t going to be solved by one person, and they’re definitely not going away any time soon. I don’t think they ever really will. You can’t blame yourself for not being able to do anything about that.”

“I still wish I could.”

“And that’s fine, but just don’t beat yourself up about it.” Ganondorf glanced back down at Zelda. “The best way you can help me now is to give me better things to think about. I’m happy that you get to be a prince, and it makes me even happier that you’re keeping the name I gave you.”

Zelda smiled wryly. “Anything to annoy my father.” He looked up at Ganondorf. “Did you know? He tried to talk me into using _Kristoff._ ”

Ganondorf raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“Because Kit isn’t very kingly, apparently.” Zelda rolled his eyes. “He is right, but we agreed to add a middle name to my full title instead.”

“Oh?”

“Uh-huh.” Zelda smirked. Puffing out his chest, he said, “I’ll be crowned Prince Kit Rennard Hyrule.”

“Nice.” Ganondorf grinned back. “That sounds very princely.”

Zelda nodded. “We decided on my new crown too, so I guess I just need to figure out what to wear now.” He sat up as another thought occurred to him. “I can finally burn that damn dress!” He a fist pump. “Yes!”

Bemused, Ganondorf asked, “What dress?”

“My wedding gown,” Zelda answered. “It’s a garish thing. If it was a monster, it could kill you with its looks alone.”

Ganondorf laughed. “I’ll take your word for it.” He pointed at Zelda’s ponytail. “You going to keep that?”

“Huh?” Zelda looked down at his hair. Then his eyes shot wide open. “I can cut it off!” He jumped up onto his knees and faced Ganondorf. “Gimme the master sword!” he said, already reaching for the sacred blade on his belt.

“Hey!” Ganondorf fell back and batted away Zelda’s overeager hands. “A sword is a horrible way to cut hair!”

“Don’t care!” Zelda climbed onto Ganondorf’s legs to keep reaching for the master sword. Ganondorf pushed him back with one hand on his face. Zelda squinted past Ganondorf’s fingers and stretched his arms as far as they could go towards his belt, flailing his hands, but Ganondorf’s arms were much longer. “We can make it look nice after I hack it off!”

“Fuck the Three,” Ganondorf said, laughing at Zelda’s silliness. “Get off!”

“Just let me chop off half of it!”

“We can go inside and look for scissors.”

“I wanna cut it with a _sword!_ ”

Ganondorf face-palmed with his free hand. One of Zelda’s flailing arms hit inside his thigh and he reflexively pulled in his leg. “Hey, careful! You nearly punched me in the dick.”

Zelda jerked back his arms and toppled backwards, blushing brightly. “Sorry!”

Exasperated, Ganondorf smiled and shook his head. “It’s fine. You’re fine.” He sat back upright. “If you really want to chop off your hair, you can.” He unsheathed the master sword. The blade rung like a bell, giving him the sense that Fi was eager to assist. “Just let me help you so you don’t cut yourself.”

Still blushing, Zelda said, “I know how to handle a sword.”

“My dick disagrees,” Ganondorf answered before he thought through that statement. Then he blushed. Zelda became redder and hid behind his hands. “I… didn’t mean to say that.”

“Just kill me now,” Zelda groaned.

“Only if you kill me first.”

Zelda snorted, then broke into a fit of giggles. “I could, couldn’t I?”

“Well, yeah.” Ganondorf began laughing too. “I guess you could.”

They continued laughing at themselves for a minute before they finally pulled themselves together. “Nayru’s tits,” Zelda said. “We’re such weirdos.”

“I think that’s part of the requirements to hold pieces of the Triforce.”

“I’d believe that.”

They were quiet for a moment, both glancing at their hands. Their marks had stopped glowing once Zelda returned to being himself and hadn’t lit up again since then. Ganondorf then held up the master sword. “Still want to be stupid?”

Zelda looked at the blue-white blade. Reaching up to pull his hair out of his ponytail, he said, “Definitely.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't forget the bonus scene, which you can find here: [“Just happy!” (Chapter 74.5)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27046393)


	75. “You ready?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh fuck, we only have one more chapter after this. I'm both excited and dreading next Wednesday, because on one hand, I'll be done! A whole, giant, complete work! But on the other... I'll have no more updates for a while. The giant prologue thingy for book 2 is coming along nicely, but it's far from finished, and I'll probably want to hold onto it until I finalize more details in book 2 itself.
> 
> Editing this chapter last-minute had also caused me some stress, as it's supposed to hint at things I haven't fully figured out in book 2, but hopefully I left things vague enough to give me the wiggle room I'll need. ~~Note to self: do not ever write characters who can see the future ever again.~~

“I think I might be sick,” Zelda said to Link while pacing his room. There was less than an hour to go before he was due to appear in the Sanctum for his recoronation. The lunch they just had felt like it had been a mistake, even though he knew logically that he wouldn’t be able to get through the day’s pomp and circumstance on an empty stomach.

 _“Should I call for some ginger tea and crackers?”_ Link asked. He was sitting on the couch with his chest to its back, arms held over the top to sign. Zelda was pacing the length of his room between the sofa and his canopy bed.

“No,” Zelda answered. Then he shook his head. “Maybe?” He stopped and tugged on the ends of his bangs. Despite its new, short length, his habit of fidgeting with his hair had not gone away. He had chopped off most of its length with Ganondorf, and he had Impa shear the back of his head to an inch. They left his bangs just above his chin, parted to one side. Since he was going to wear his great-grandfather’s circlet, the Hero’s haircut seemed a fitting choice. The lack of weight on his head had been incredibly freeing, but it was a small comfort against his worry about how the kingdom would react. His father had nearly fainted when he saw it.

When the castle updated their neighbors about their plans for the cancelled wedding, they only told their leaders the new, true purpose of their celebration. All of Hyrule’s citizens, save for the staff within the castle, only knew that they had a special, surprise announcement. The castle staff’s reactions to their plans were mixed, but generally accepting, if only by virtue of it being the king’s orders. The castle would learn how the rest of their people would react during and after the ceremony.

It seemed a risky move, but Zelda didn’t want the news circulating in the papers until after his name and title were officially changed. All reporters in attendance were going to get a special press release that summarized Zelda’s basic reasoning for the decision and explained how publications should refer to him moving forward. Zelda knew he would be bombarded with interview requests after his recoronation, and they would certainly force him to repeatedly justify why he was a man. He thought he was prepared for that and a cold reception. Now he wasn’t sure if he would be able to handle either.

Link got off the couch and walked around to Zelda’s side. _“No matter what happens, we will be with you.”_

Zelda turned and hugged Link. “Thanks.” Pulling back, he continued, “I just… I know all of this is for me, but it’s going to cause drama—”

 _“It’s always been causing drama,”_ Link said. _“I wouldn’t be surprised if half the kingdom already expects this. The staff talk to their families outside the castle, you know.”_

His point didn’t exactly reassure Zelda, but the shift in perspective helped settle down his frantic feelings. “I guess I forgot about that.”

Teasing, Link poked Zelda’s arm. _“Only you would forget rumors are a thing.”_

“I didn’t really forget!” Zelda protested.

 _“You just weren’t thinking about it, I know.”_ Link smirked. They both knew Zelda had a notorious habit of neglecting seemingly obvious facts when he was focused on something else.

Zelda narrowed his eyes petulantly at the knight. “You’ve become more of a smartass, you know that?”

Link laughed. _“Blame Wisdom,”_ he signed, pointing at the mark on his hand.

“Is it really making you smarter?” Zelda’s gaze lingered on his mark. He wondered if Link’s Triforce piece now had a passive effect on him like how Power was amplifying his strength.

 _“Hard to tell,”_ Link signed before he shrugged. _“I’ve started having weird dreams, but I forget most of them come morning.”_ He paused, seeming to debate adding another thought. The ones going through his head were too fragmented and flittering too quickly to be transmitted.

Zelda frowned with concern. “What have you not forgotten?”

Link bit his lip. Reluctantly, he signed, _“War.”_

“No…” Zelda’s eyes widened as he watched Link slowly lower his hands. “Who are we fighting?”

_“I don’t know. They look like those darknuts we saw at the Temple of Time, but… shadowier? Smokey? The battlefield doesn’t look like Hyrule, even though my head says it is. Everything was shaded red.”_

“So we’re going to go to war against monsters?” Zelda asked, becoming more worried.

Link shook his head, but looked uncertain. _“I didn’t see us, only knights. It might not happen in our lifetime. It might just be a vision from the past. I don’t know.”_

Zelda sighed. He continued tugging on a lock of his bangs. “I don’t like this. It feels like an omen.”

 _“I’m sorry,”_ he signed. His thoughts added, _“I shouldn’t have said anything.”_

“No, you know I don’t like it when you keep things to yourself.” Zelda met Link’s eyes and he averted his gaze. “You have to stop thinking you can’t tell me about your problems.”

_“You were already worrying about your recoronation. I didn’t want to give you more to worry about.”_

Shaking his head in exasperation, Zelda put his hands on Link’s shoulders. “What were you telling me literally like a minute ago? Whatever happens, we’re doing it together. If you get to worry about my problems, I get to worry about yours too. Got it?”

Link’s face screwed up, rueful, before he sheepishly smiled. _“Okay.”_

“Good.” Zelda hugged Link again. “How long have you been having these dreams?”

Link hunched up his shoulders, looking more sheepish. _“Since we found Ghirahim.”_

“What?” Zelda exclaimed. “That was like a month ago.”

_“Eighteen days. It feels longer because we’ve been so busy.”_

“Good grief.” Zelda took a moment to marvel at the passage of time. “It must be worse for Gan,” he mused. “Or do you think he’s used to it by now?”

Link shrugged. _“We could ask,”_ he started to say, but a knock on Zelda’s door interrupted the rest of his thoughts.

Zelda bid their guest to enter and Ghirahim opened the door. Taking one look at Zelda, the demon put his hand over his heart with over-exaggerated astonishment. “Princess, why aren’t you dressed yet?”

“I didn’t want to mess up my coat,” Zelda answered. He was actually half-dressed, since he was wearing an undershirt and the white trousers that went with his outfit. A red band went up each side of his legs, which would match his belt and baldric. His coat, which was currently folded over the side of his bed, had gold, double-breasted buttons and tasseled epaulettes. More gold was embroidered in little details throughout the white satin and crimson velvet uniform.

“Well, it’s time to finish getting yourself ready,” Ghirahim said. “You’re wanted to await your coronation downstairs.”

“Shit.” Zelda rushed over to his coat and pulled it on.

While Zelda did up the buttons, Ghirahim added, “You don’t need to rush yourself that much. Have you put on make-up yet?”

Zelda scoffed. “No way. I’m done with that stuff.”

Ghirahim raised a manicured eyebrow, giving the royal heir a pointed look. “You _do_ realize make-up does not have to look feminine, don’t you?”

Finished with his buttons, Zelda grabbed his belt and glanced at Ghirahim. The demon’s amethyst eyeshadow and opalescent lipstick was strangely masculine on him, but Zelda didn’t think he could pull off the look. He continued fiddling with his belt.

Ghirahim flicked his hand. Zelda’s vanity chair slid across the floor into the back of the royal heir’s knees.

“Ah, hey!” Zelda fell down into the seat. Ghirahim twirled his fingers, making it fly back to the vanity. “I said I don’t want to wear make-up!”

“If you don’t like it, you can take it off.” Ghirahim sauntered over to Zelda and examined the brushes and powders beneath his mirror. “I want you to see what you can do with it first.” To Link, he said, “You finish getting yourself ready.”

Link nodded and went to get his coat, which was dark blue and gold. Zelda scowled at Ghirahim. The demon stared back at him. With a huff, Zelda crossed his arms and sat back in his chair. “Fine. Do your worst.”

Ghirahim grinned. “No one will call you Princess when I’m done.” He picked up a brush and lifted up Zelda’s chin.

Zelda rolled his eyes. “Except you, I wager.”

“Oh, no,” Ghirahim assured him. “I’ve been saving a better nickname for you.”

“A better nickname?” Zelda asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

“Ah-ah-ah,” Ghirahim tutted at him, waving a powder puff. “Smooth out your face. I can’t work with you frowning at me.”

Grudgingly, Zelda complied. It was hard to see what Ghirahim was doing to his face while he worked. The demon had Zelda sitting with his back to his mirror. All he knew was that there were a lot of neutral and brown tones being layered onto his cheeks and around his eyes, and a weird amount of time was spent brushing his eyebrows.

When Ghirahim spun Zelda around to face the mirror, Zelda did a double-take. “Holy Farore.” It looked like it did when he cast disguise magic on himself, except it was more _him_. His lips didn’t seem so naturally pink, his features were subtly sharper, and his eyebrows looked heavier set. The entire look also had the benefit of making him look less stressed and more awake.

Ghirahim twirled a brush over his fingers, smug. “Shall I take it off now?”

“No way!” Zelda jumped out of his vanity chair. Looking at himself more closely in the mirror, he said, “You have to show me how you did this.” Paired with his new short hair, he looked and felt more like his real self than he ever had before. He only wished that the changes weren’t just make-up tricks.

“I will happily oblige when we have the time,” Ghirahim said.

 _“You look great,”_ Link said, walking over to them. A royal broadsword hung from his belt, complementing the rest of his blue suit. He held out Zelda’s baldric and sheath. _“Don’t forget these.”_

“Right.” Zelda grinned and slipped on his baldric. After he attached his sheath to his belt, he held out his hand towards Ghirahim. “Now for my final accessory.”

Ghirahim narrowed his eyes at Zelda. “I resent that description,” he said, though he still placed his hand on his. He transformed into Zelda’s rapier. _“I am much more than a mere ornament.”_

Zelda slid him into his sheath and smiled. “I know.”

 _“You ready?”_ Link asked.

Zelda looked to his door. Taking a deep breath, he exhaled and nodded firmly. “Let’s do this.”


	76. “Long live Hyrule!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it - the end of _Book 1_. I have a lot of thoughts and no coherent words to say them, so I'll try to stay simple -- thank you so _fucking_ much for sticking with me until the end. Thank you for every kudo and comment and moment that you decided to spend with my characters and their story. Whether you've been with me since the beginning or just found this story a few days ago, I am so glad that you decided to give my writing a chance.
> 
> I don't know when book 2 will be finished. I'm not going to even try to guess at a time frame for its release, because I really have no idea at this point. I have like 40k words strewn about two separate drafts, and 16k for something that might end up being a companion piece or a prologue to book 2. I have soft plans to continue uploading extra fics to the [bonus content from Not My Namesake](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1806355), but I'm not sure when I'll get around to finishing the drafts of stuff I have to post. I do, however, have a bonus that's connected to this chapter. Find the link in the notes at the end!

Zelda was waiting just outside the Sanctum, though he couldn’t help but peek through a crack in the doors while his father began a speech to welcome their guests. Blue and white banners hung from the white stonework throughout the round space. Every pillar was festooned with bouquets of armoranth, nightshade, and Hyrule herb. The cool colors contrasted well with the red stucco ceilings and carpet over the marble floors. Gilded accents and the golden statue of the Triforce behind the thrones gleamed in the light from the high windows.

King Cornelius was standing on a temporary stage set on the ground level beneath the thrones. Beside him stood Roam and another castle guard in royal uniforms, as well as an attendant holding a velvet pillow. The diamond circlet sat on top, hidden beneath a silk handkerchief. All of Hyrule’s leaders were in attendance with their entourages, as well as reporters and nobles deemed important enough to be invited. Near the front was Impa and Link. Beside the knight was Link’s family: Aryll, Arn, and Medilia. Seated with Chief Saburi, a surprisingly small and frail-looking matriarch, was Ganondorf, Nabooru, and Vaati in his Hylian form. The three Gerudo were wearing richly colored clothes with many gold ornaments, and Ganondorf’s hair had been manhandled into a low, stumpy ponytail. The Minish had added a dark plum cape and gold accents to his usual purple tunic and cap for the occasion.

While his father addressed their guests, Zelda hardly heard his words over his nerves. It began as a speech exulting the history of Hyrule and the royal family’s honors and achievements. Zelda nearly missed the moment when his father began talking about the more recent events that had brought them to this moment. He described how Ganondorf broke into the castle and befriended an unnamed knight, how they rescued Link from Lost Woods, and how all three of them journeyed to Karusa Valley to defeat Twinrova. He did not make any mention of a Princess Zelda, and left the identity of the unnamed knight a mystery to hold his audience in suspense. The story also overstated this knight’s involvement in Zelda’s opinion, oversimplified their adventure in general, and somehow left out Vaati and Ghirahim entirely. Zelda assumed his father made the changes for the sake of drama and brevity, but it still felt dishonest.

At the end of the story, King Cornelius said, “All of our heroes deserve only the highest honors. However, we have not gathered here today to bestow medals. No, instead we are here to rectify a misappellation.” He paused for emphasis. “The knight I have not named thus far is a person we all know, and he is not actually a knight. I am sure you will recognize him when I introduce you.” He motioned for the guards to open the Sanctum doors. “Please welcome Princess Zelda.”

Zelda entered the Sanctum with a flourish of trumpets. The king smiled as Zelda walked to him through the rows of seated guests.

Zelda focused on breathing evenly and keeping a pleasant, solemn expression. Nervous energy thrummed through his tense muscles. He wondered if he should have slicked back his hair instead of leaving it in the Hero’s style. He hoped that his breasts weren’t obvious under his coat and binder. He heard murmuring among the guests and spared a sidelong glance at a section of Hylian nobles. They noticed his gaze and quieted, but there were other murmurs elsewhere. It had not escaped anyone’s notice that he looked nothing like his former self. Zelda turned his eyes forward again.

Link caught Zelda’s eyes and smiled reassuringly. _“Almost there,”_ he said only telepathically.

 _“I’m already noting who’s whispering,”_ Ghirahim said from Zelda’s rapier. _“The majority of your guests are being more respectful.”_

Zelda silently thanked his friends, wishing he could telepathically communicate with them in return. He reached the steps to the temporary stage and felt his heart surge at the sight of his father smiling proudly at him. Roam flashed him a grin from his post behind the king before Zelda kneeled before them.

“I know I have confused all of you,” King Cornelius said while Zelda kneeled. “The knight I have described and the person before me do not resemble the princess you know. I assure you, this young man was my daughter. Now he is my son.”

Zelda’s breath caught in his throat. He bit the inside of his cheek to keep himself from tearing up, and he was thankful he was still facing the floor to hide his overwhelming feelings.

“For the past nineteen years, this child of Hylia kneeling before me has answered to the name Princess Zelda. Today, this name shall return to the halls of history and await its next inheritor. Now, I will bestow my son his new name and title.” King Cornelius looked down at Zelda. “Please, lift your head.”

Zelda lifted his face to his father. He scarcely breathed as he met his eyes.

“I offer you my sincerest apologies,” the king said, eyes creased with emotion, “and I thank you for your patience in waiting for this moment.” The attendant on the stage lifted the handkerchief off the diamond circlet and presented it to King Cornelius. He lifted it up with both hands and held it over Zelda’s head. It gleamed in the light coming through the Sanctum’s tall windows. “By the powers vested in me, I dub thee Prince Kit Rennard Hyrule.”

King Cornelius placed the diamond circlet on the royal heir’s head. The trumpets gave a flourish. Applause rose from the seats lining the round walls of the Sanctum. Above the clapping of Hyrule’s leaders and their entourages was the sound of Ganondorf standing and cheering. Nabooru and Chief Saburi laughed beside him. Vaati grinned from his seat. Link and Impa looked on with pride.

Kit got to his feet and turned to face his audience. His heart swelled with emotion stronger than gratitude. It was pure relief, joy, and a tinge of sadness because he knew the moment couldn’t last forever. But for now, he was still standing, meeting the eyes of his friends and his kingdom’s leaders.

It wasn’t surprising to see that Chief Saburi looked happy for him. She had her grandchildren back, and her people regained an important archaeological site because of them. The Gorons also seemed happy, but since they didn’t have the same concept of gender as the other races, Kit figured the change didn’t seem that different to them. It was hard to tell what the Rito thought. They clapped just as well as the others, despite their wings, but Kit didn’t have much practice reading their avian features. Amusingly, of Hyrule’s regional leaders, King Sidon of the Zora was applauding Kit most enthusiastically. It was the first time he had ever seen the Zora king, but he seemed to be filled with nothing but earnest passion. King Sidon was also the only person in the room bigger than Ganondorf, seeming to be head and shoulders taller than the Gerudo.

The coldest reception came from only a select few Hylian nobles, which Kit expected. It would take time for them to come around. To his relief, however, no one looked too obviously displeased. It could have been just respect for the occasion, but he let himself believe it was grudging acceptance.

When the applause died down, Kit knew it was his turn to speak. He rolled back his shoulders a little farther. He stretched out his fingers, then held them against his palms. After he took a final breath to steady himself, he raised his voice.

“Citizens and leaders of Hyrule, thank you for coming here today and honoring my recoronation. Seeing all of you here and hearing your support for me means more to me than words can ever fully express. I never would have believed this day would be possible if it wasn’t for the unexpected events of the past month and a half. I know all that has happened has caused much uncertainty and worry for our country’s future. Our calendars were marked for a wedding, after all.” Kit smiled wryly.

“Humor aside, some concern is warranted. Not one, but _two_ blood moons have thrown our roads and villages into disarray. Monsters the world has not seen for millennia have returned to our lands. The defenders of our kingdom are still learning how to face these new threats.” He placed his hand over his heart and added, “I _,_ too, am still learning what can be done to restore peace.

“Receiving my new name and title today has bolstered my faith in myself and in our people’s resilience. A Calamity couldn’t stop us – the dregs of it won’t either. We _can_ survive these changes, and we will _thrive._ Our nations will grow stronger together, just as we have over the past century. With your help, I promise you, my people, I will do everything in my power to protect our country.” Kit put his fist into the air, showing his Triforce mark. “Long live Hyrule!”

His guests echoed his proclamation and applauded his speech. Kit bowed to them before he took his leave of the stage. A procession of knights in royal uniforms followed him out. When Kit passed through the doorway, he felt lighter than he ever had before.

* * *

Following Kit’s recoronation, all of their guests reconvened in the dining hall for a dinner feast. Kit had Ganondorf and the other Gerudo sit on his side of the table, ignoring the appearance of favoritism. He wanted to get to know Ganondorf and Nabooru’s grandmother better just as much as they did, and all of them teased them over the fact that Chief Saburi was so much smaller than her grandchildren. The elderly leader had been short like her mother, Riju, and age had shrunken her further. She claimed that the Gerudo siblings’ father, Sebastes, was tall for a Hylian, so they probably got their height from him. They couldn’t compare themselves to Sebastes, however, because he wasn’t in attendance.

Chief Saburi had been surprised Sebastes hadn’t come to the castle, and was rather annoyed too when she learned that he hadn’t sent a response to either the invitation or the letters Nabooru had written him as soon as Impa told them about him. Ganondorf asked if it was possible monsters waylaid either the mail or his father, but Saburi assured him that it was more likely Sebastes was just trying to avoid such a formal event. He had always tried to hide himself away when their mother, Inume was required to attend official events, and words were never his strong suit. They just needed to wait until all of the excitement burned down, she said, and then he would certainly invite them to his home in Lurelin Village.

When dinner was finished, the party moved to the ballroom. The grand space was entirely new, as it had been buried under rubble during the Calamity, but it was every bit as regal as the rest of the castle. More blue and white banners and bouquets of flowers adorned every corner. High, arched windows surrounded the room, and the ceiling depicted the Golden Goddesses creating Hyrule. While their guests twirled around the dance floor and socialized around hors d’oeuvres, an orchestra played music from each region of Hyrule.

Kit danced with Link first. It was mainly to preserve the image that they were still close friends despite their cancelled wedding, but he also always enjoyed the knight’s precise footwork. When he finished a few songs with Link, he looked for Ganondorf next, but a particularly bold Hylian noblewoman asked the Gerudo for a dance first. Ganondorf seemed caught off guard by the request, as he had been dancing with Nabooru, but he politely accepted the noblewoman’s hand. Kit felt a stab of jealousy.

Ghirahim appeared at Kit’s side. Smirking, he said, “Green eyes don’t become you, Foxchild.”

Kit jerked back, surprised since he hadn’t heard Ghirahim switch from his rapier into his Hylian form. Unsurprisingly, the demon hadn’t changed his Gerudo-fairy inspired outfit for the party. The iridescent scales of his shirt were opulent enough on their own, and his white gold accessories further emphasized how he considered his own status as far above the rest of their guests.

“Foxchild?” Kit repeated, confused.

“Your new nickname.” Ghirahim grinned. “Do you like it?”

“Oh!” Kit’s eyebrows rose before he found himself trying not to grin. “Is that a thrice-damned _pun?_ ”

Ghirahim’s head tipped back and he laughed. It was a warm and rich sound, rounded in the spots where his usual, vicious kind of laugh was not. “Not quite, but it is fitting, no?”

“I ought to throw you out the window!” Kit answered, unable to prevent himself from laughing with him.

“You may certainly try after this dance.”

Zelda scoffed. “After? I might as well now.” He glanced at Ganondorf leaving with the noblewoman and noticed Link going to the dance floor with Aryll. The knight’s little sister was wearing a sea-blue dress and decorated her hair with red windflowers. “I don’t have a dance partner.”

“Don’t be dense.” Ghirahim folded one arm behind his back, bowed, and held out his hand in one smooth motion. “Shall we?”

“Uh…” Kit blinked. The next song started. Ghirahim rolled his eyes and took the royal heir’s hand. “Ah!” Kit stumbled to follow. As Ghirahim led him around the dance floor, Kit quickly fell back into step and found himself smiling. The demon had a penchant for performance, so naturally he spun and tipped back Kit with reckless abandon.

Kit didn’t know what their guests must have been thinking, him dancing with an unknown stranger. Ghirahim wasn’t dressed like the other Hylian nobles and he hadn’t arrived with the Gerudo entourage. Since he wasn’t named during the recoronation, only the castle servants knew he was Kit’s sword. It felt like a sweet, little secret between them.

When the song ended, Kit was breathless and laughing. The two of them walked over to a wall to watch the next round. “You practically made that into a sparring match,” he said, grinning.

Ghirahim lifted his chin, pleased as a loftwing. He hadn’t even broken a sweat. It probably wasn’t even possible for him to do so. “But of course, Foxchild. I don’t do boring.”

A servant passed with a tray of champagne flutes. Kit grabbed one, knowing full well it wouldn’t rehydrate him, but he drank from it anyway. He had already had a glass of wine with dinner and was past caring.

Ghirahim rolled his eyes. Taking a step to leave, the demon said, “I am going to find you something that will not reduce you to a drunken mess.”

Kit raised his glass to him in a mock toast. “Thanks!” He watched him leave, then surveyed the rest of the dance floor. He had lost track of where Ganondorf went during his dance with Ghirahim. The Gerudo should have been easy to find, given his height, but the ballroom was a large enough space with enough people in it that it was easy to mistake one of the other Gerudo guests for him.

Ganondorf spotted Kit before he found him. Once the current song ended, the Gerudo hurried over to the royal heir. “There you are,” he said, sliding up next to Kit by the wall. “It’s weirding me out how many women keep wanting to dance with me.”

Kit laughed. “Are you serious?”

“What?”

“You’re, you know.” With one finger lifted off his champagne flute, Kit gestured vaguely at Ganondorf entire self. The Gerudo’s richly colored shirt was covering his muscles, but it was well-fitted enough to not hide anything. “And you got the whole ‘Hero of Hyrule’ thing going on now.”

Ganondorf turned his eyes skyward. “It still feels weird.”

“Drink some more champagne then,” Kit said. “That’s how I get through these parties.”

“Is it still so bad even though you get to be yourself now?” Ganondorf asked, giving him a concerned look.

“Well, no.” Kit looked into his glass. “I’m actually having a lot of fun right now.” He glanced back up at Ganondorf. His face broke into a crooked grin. “Will you dance with me?”

Ganondorf smiled wryly. “I’m not very good. The first lady I danced with after Nab didn’t have much success teaching me how, and I almost stepped on my second partner.”

Kit snorted. Grabbing Ganondorf’s hand, he said, “I can handle that.” He put down his glass on a nearby table, and the Gerudo allowed him to pull him to the dance floor. Kit reached for Ganondorf’s shoulder, but realized he couldn’t do so comfortably.

“Just put your hand on my waist,” Ganondorf said, amused. His previous Hylian partners had settled on his arm. “You should lead anyway.”

Kit blushed, but placed his hand on Ganondorf’s side. He had never been allowed to lead before, so it became a bit of a learning curve for both of them as they got into step for the song currently playing. They stayed together when the next song began, and eventually they fell into a clumsy rhythm.

Dancing with Ganondorf wasn’t easy like it was with Link, or physically exhilarating like with Ghirahim, but Kit nevertheless enjoyed the simple pleasure of their shared awkwardness. It was hard to see around Ganondorf. The Gerudo had to keep veering them away from other dancers, and Kit had to keep adjusting their steps to stay on tempo. Between their fumbles, Kit would look up and catch Ganondorf staring at him, and they would smile sheepishly at each other.

As the orchestra moved to a slower song, Kit let his hand slide lower on Ganondorf’s waist. The Gerudo gave him a knowing look and lifted his thumb from Kit’s shoulder to brush the side of the royal heir’s cheek. Kit blushed. They continued circling the dance floor.

When the song reached its end, Kit stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Ganondorf’s waist, hugging him tightly with his face against his stomach. Ganondorf folded his hands over Kit’s back and smiled. They continued to hold each other for a moment before Ganondorf knelt down to properly bring Kit into his arms. Kit stiffened and made a sound of surprise, but quickly stepped closer. He pulled himself against Ganondorf’s neck and relaxed in his embrace. He smelled like saffron and safflina.

For a moment, Kit forgot the dance floor. He didn’t think about the monsters outside the castle, the dungeon below them, or his worries about politics and the kingdom’s approval. None of it mattered. He had his new name, a new circlet, and warm arms around him. He needed nothing else.  
  


[Like or retweet this picture [here]](https://twitter.com/DarkAcey/status/1331681310293839877)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can read the bonus chapter/epilogue here: [“I thought I was the only one!” (Chapter 76.5/Epilogue)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27382135)
> 
> While I continue work on book 2, be sure to let me know what your favorite things were about this story! If there is anything you'd like me to further explore in particular or things you'd like to see happen, please give me your suggestions. I'd love to continue hearing from you until I can continue posting work.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! If you're enjoying this story, please leave comments and kudos. Feedback fuels my soul!
> 
> For updates on my life and writing process, follow me on [Twitter @DarkAcey](https://twitter.com/DarkAcey). I mostly retweet a lot of LoZ fanart.
> 
> You can find deleted scenes and other bonus content in this series: <https://archiveofourown.org/series/1806355>

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Kinstones in Castle Town (Chapter 3.5)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24957313) by [DarkAcey](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkAcey/pseuds/DarkAcey)
  * [A Side Quest in Mabe Village (alternate chapter 44)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24958432) by [DarkAcey](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkAcey/pseuds/DarkAcey)
  * [“Just happy!” (Chapter 74.5)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27046393) by [DarkAcey](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkAcey/pseuds/DarkAcey)
  * [“The matter of changing the essence of a thing.” (Chapter 73.5)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27382105) by [DarkAcey](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkAcey/pseuds/DarkAcey)
  * [“I thought I was the only one!” (Chapter 76.5/Epilogue)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27382135) by [DarkAcey](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkAcey/pseuds/DarkAcey)




End file.
